


It's A Mystery

by Isabelle_Jennings



Category: Batman (Comics), Batwoman (Comic), DCU, DCU (Animated), DCU (Comics), Gotham Central, Martian Manhunter (Comics), Superman (Comics), The Question (Comics), The Spectre (Comics), Titans (Comics)
Genre: F/F, Female Homosexuality, Femslash, Gay, Gay Male Character, Gotham City Police Department, LGBTQ Themes, Lesbian Character, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Male Slash, Metropolis
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-20
Updated: 2015-01-31
Packaged: 2018-03-08 08:23:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 34,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3202292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isabelle_Jennings/pseuds/Isabelle_Jennings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Star reporter Lois Lane and Detective Renee Montoya are in love... it's just, the problem is they don't really work as a couple all that well. It might be they're a little too alike in some of the worst ways. They argue, they break up, they get back together, but, in the end, they're still in love and both of them are way too stubborn to quit. All this, and the threat of Intergang and it's mysteriously powerful alien technology waits in the wings...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Surrender's Good Sometimes

**Author's Note:**

> This story's mainly focused on 2 pairings, Renee Montoya/Lois Lane and Jim Corrigan/J'onn J'onzz. I alternate between them as the story goes on.
> 
> If you're more interested in Jim Corrigan/J'onn J'onzz, I suggest skipping to chapter two first (and then going back to chapter one after that if you want). It won't mess up the flow of the story at all and it'll give you a better idea if this is a story you want to read.
> 
> The two storylines are connected and cross over in later chapters as the plot of the story progresses and both couples become involved in the same investigation.

#1: SURRENDER'S GOOD SOMETIMES

\--- RENEE ---

[In the city of Gotham-Metropolis: a city made of two cities--both having grown so large they'd run up against one another and, over time, been consolidated into one city--the largest in the world.]

She was tired and frustrated and nervous... damn nervous, and she hated it. Long day at work. Two months... she was secretly almost going out of her fucking mind and she was about ready to give in just from that. Was it stupid what she was doing? Maybe Lois would just... never change? Not enough anyway... and did it even really make a difference, when it came right down to it? Well... yeah, it made a difference, obviously it made a fucking difference--she wouldn't have put herself through all this if she didn't think it made a fucking difference--just... when it came down to it... would she, could she, cut Lois Lane out of her life? Ever?

She had reasons, lots and lots of reasons that most other people would agree with that she could use to justify doing just that... she knew she did. She never had though, and, really, she was past the part where she could fool herself into thinking that she might actually do it at some point... if the last two months had proved anything to her, it had proved that... and made her damn miserable while they were at it... 

It was just... the principal of the thing, you know? This was her mom she was talking about--this was family. Family mattered... it counted, and you didn't just give up on them or not talk to them, even when you... kind of thought you should sometimes...

She held her head. She had a headache, and she had on and off all day. What was she going to do? 

So Lois was in her life for good, like family, like more than family... It was--the thing was that, even when they were broken up, they never -completely- broke up... they still talked, or at least texted regularly, even if it was strained or heated or passive-aggressive or whatever else... even then, Renee couldn't stand to be completely without her. None of that meant they were actually a good match for one another though--none of it meant they could really make it work...

Chelsea, the waitress, came over and brought her coffee and she gave the woman such a look of gratitude she made the woman blush a little. Renee smiled a little apologetically. "Sorry, it's just... you're kind of my hero right now." She told Chelsea.

"Always glad to help out the cause, detective." Chelsea replied, offering her a smile as she turned and left.

She and Lois came to this bistro a lot, so the staff knew that she was a G.M.P.D. detective, and, of course, just about everyone in the city knew who Lois Lane was...

Renee sipped at her coffee and let her eyes flutter closed. She tried to think about nothing at all, and it seemed to help. Some short time later, she opened her eyes and Lois was walking through the tables headed right to her. Their eyes met and Renee's breath caught and her mouth watered and she actually sighed a little... She had to try really hard not to smile just at the sight of her and all the very, very pleasant thoughts seeing her brought to mind... She'd never felt for anyone else what she felt for this woman... In love... in love didn't even quite seem to cover it... Lois was... Lois was just... just... more... to her, anyway...

Lois was smiling, almost a little shyly, by the time she took her seat across from her. They were sort of caught gazing into one another's eyes for Renee wasn't even sure how long. "So, um... okay, so... you win, alright...?" Lois finally admitted softly. "I give up, I surrender, you... you beat me, okay?"

Renee was... stunned. If there was one thing she thought she'd never hear Lois Lane say, it had to be that. "I'm sorry, what did you just say?" Renee asked blankly.

"Oh, come on, have mercy here Renee--don't make me say it again, okay?" Lois asked.

"I uh, yeah... yeah, okay." Renee replied, an almost goofy, yet decidedly triumphant smile coming to her lips. Okay... so maybe the two months might have just been worth it after all. Was she a really horrible person for thinking that? Maybe, but, hey... it felt really great anyway.

Lois groaned and covered her face with her hand. "You're not making this easy, you know?"

Renee couldn't help the giggle that bubbled up from somewhere inside. She wasn't usually someone who giggled mind you, but Lois could make her do it sometimes... and this time, it seemed like there was just nothing else for it. "Sorry." She told her, though she wasn't really.

"Yeah, and if I buy that, I'm sure you've got a few bridges you'd like to sell me too, huh?" Lois replied, leaning her chin on her palm, elbow on the table, and regarding her with a good-natured, tolerant smile. Wow. A smile like that, really could sell a bridge or two, she'd bet...

"I would never." Renee replied. "But, so, really?" She asked.

"Really. I'll try..." She looked like she was visibly struggling with her words here. "I'll have dinner with Louisa, and I'll try--just try mind you--to be nice... or, you know, at least not throw anything at her. No promises though..." She trailed off, looking down at the table.

"Hey, I'll take the win." Renee replied easily, more than satisfied with the results. Mostly...

Lois had never actually thrown anything at her mother, thankfully, but Renee knew what she meant by the whole thing... And she, well, she really got why Lois couldn't stand her mom as much as she couldn't stand her. But her mom was trying, Renee really believed that, and, it hadn't been as big a deal as it had turned into... it was just... she wanted it, you know? She wanted to be on good terms with her family, and Lois had just been so... impossible about the whole thing and it had just gotten her angry in that way that really made her want to dig her heels in and... And they were just... too alike that way. Neither of them would back down, they'd broken up over it, and... two months had gone by.

Lois had tried all sorts of things to get past it with her (or at least get her in bed for a night), without apologizing or agreeing to attempt a reconciliation with her mom, but Renee had stubbornly rebuffed all of them... It hadn't been easy, but she'd done it. It hadn't even really been all about her mom and dad either. Whatever her reasons though, it had made her miserable--not that she was planning on admitting that to anyone anytime soon.

Lois sighed. "So, it's over then...? We're, um, we're back together?" She asked hopefully.

Renee smiled, but it sort of faded away when she met Lois's eyes... She found her eyes drifting down a little to her girlfriend's chest, and thinking about what 'back together' meant for later that night, and the smile came back. "Hell yes..." She whispered, meeting Lois's now amused gaze again.

Lois let out a breath in relief and smiled. "So, did you order the food already?" She asked, all innocent and hopeful sounding.

"Knew I forgot something." Renee replied.

"Drat." Lois answered, looking around and catching a waitress's eye. She waved to her and the waitress, Linda, Renee recognized, headed right to them to take their order, a certain look in her eyes that Renee knew all too well.

Renee sighed. It wasn't easy on her sometimes, having a girlfriend who other women fell for at the drop of a hat most of the time...

She wasn't really the jealous sort, but, still, she wished it was different sometimes, she really did.

Get stranded on a tropical island with her sometime, that would be nice for a change... well, maybe it would anyway.

(2b continued)


	2. A Kiss In The Rain

#2: A KISS IN THE RAIN

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

\--- JIM ---

"...I'm not going to beg." Jim Corrigan told the man holding the knife close to his throat from behind him.

"No, I guess you aren't, but... any second now, you are going to bleed to death, messy and quick." Victor Zsasz told him. "All these months, you dogging me every chance you got... That's what we have in common... the anticipation. Knowing that moment--this moment--was on it's way... you can feel that now. You -know- that now... Your life: soon washed away in a pool of red, like it was never there--just another scar to carve onto my flesh, like any other... so, I'm asking, while you've still got maybe just a little time to talk left in you... was it worth it, Corrigan? Was your life worth it?"

Jim had to be honest with himself: Right at this moment? As he was edging his gun up to point it at his chest, hoping Zsasz wouldn't see, and intending to fire right through and kill them both? ...If forced to tell the truth, he'd tell you hell no--it was definitely not worth it. All the jobs he could have had? The lives he could have led? Why the hell did he chose this one? Why did it have to end this way, when it felt like he hadn't really gotten a fair chance to live yet? Of course, it could just possibly be that he'd had his chance and he'd just cocked the whole thing up... That sounded about right.

And then a shot rang out... It took him a few seconds to realize it hadn't come from his gun, and that Zsasz had become dead weight at his back, falling to the floor of the condemned apartment building he'd tracked him to. The block had been re-zoned--next year some time, this building was going to be dust and this was all going to be office space.

He clutched his throat, breathing hard. He was in a cold sweat, and he didn't usually sweat on the job... not unless the temperature was a lot higher than it was today. Of course, he'd almost died, so it was understandable, right?

"Are you all right, detective?" A voice he hadn't heard in weeks asked. The voice was gratingly familiar--all calm and peaceful sounding... except, was it his imagination, or did he hear just a slight tremor there?

He turned around and leaned back heavily against the wall and saw him there: John Jones--private invigilator, sometimes friend, sometimes pain in his ass, but today? Today he was about the most beautiful thing Jim thought he'd ever seen in his life.

"Yeah... yeah. Thanks... Really, thanks John. I... I guess I really owe you one, don't I?" Jim had to smile. The look in John's eyes? Something had actually gotten to him for once--cracked that calm he always had. It was actually kind of flattering... kind of something else too, but he wasn't sure it was smart for him to be thinking that. The memory of a kiss flashed through his thoughts--one rainy day after a hard day's work, when he'd backed John Jones up against an alley wall and kissed him for all he was worth, and got just about... nothing. Nothing but a surprised look, a curious tilt of the head, and one damn word: "Unexpected."

He'd been so damn mad at him he'd wanted to hit him--really wanted to hit him. "Say something else, damn it." He'd demanded in a tight voice that had packed far too much vulnerability behind it than he'd have liked to let show.

"My wife is dead, but... I still feel as though I am married." That's what he'd said, and the words had been like a sucker punch. What could he have said to that? What the hell could he possibly have said to that? He hadn't known then and he didn't know now. Then he'd just said that he was sorry, turned, and walked away and left John Jones in the ally where he'd kissed him, nether of them having said another word about it since.

Now...? Now he was just... sad for him--sad for both of them, really. He'd had a serious lover once... an artist, named Kenneth Drake. Ken had been a moody bastard, and hard to love... but Jim had loved him with everything he'd had to give, and it still hadn't fucking been enough. Ken had killed himself... taken a fist full of pain pills and just faded away one day when Jim had been at work taking domestic calls. It wasn't the same thing, not really. They'd both lost the one they loved, but it still wasn't the same. Hell... he wasn't even sure John liked guys that way. He'd catch John giving him these looks sometimes, but it was damn slim, because the man gave not one thing away about himself you didn't pry loose with a crowbar... Why the fuck did he always have to be falling for the hard ones? That's what he wanted to know, really... He wasn't the sort that liked it rough in bed much, so he was pretty sure he wasn't a masochist, but, even so... Of course, it could be the obvious answer: he was just an idiot, plain and simple--that, he could believe.

Their eyes were locked together. "...I don't keep score." John told him simply, putting away his gun.

"No, of course you don't..." Jim replied, just the ghost of a smile on his lips. He couldn't credit it, but there was just... something so damn magnetic about John Jones... like he wasn't even from this world, even. His friends on the force, except his partner Josie, they all said they couldn't see it. Well, he'd seen it--the first day they'd met he'd seen it--and he saw it now, and it made his chest ache with it.

Was it his imagination, or was that just a little of a smile on John's lips? "Well, if you're all right, I suppose I'll be on my way then."

"You're going to have to give a statement about this. You know that. You know you'll catch hell if you leave the scene." He told him.

"And... you imagine I care?" John asked, curious.

"No... No, I don't suppose so. But... just stay anyway, alright? As a favor to me?" He asked.

"...I already did you a rather large favor today, don't you think?" John asked.

"I'm asking anyway." Jim told him, not backing down.

John regarded him curiously for some long moments. "Alight... I'll stay." He told him, looking down at Zsasz. "He's not dead, you realize."

Jim took a moment to understand what John had just said. He looked down at Zsasz too then and blinked in surprise--psycho's God-damned eyes were still open, and they were looking right at him... "What in hell..." Jim knelt down by him. John's bullet had passed through his neck, side to side, hitting his spine... a shot like that, freak should be dead. "Damn... going to make me save your worthless life now, aren't you?" He muttered. "Grab me one of those old curtains over there, will you?"

"Of course." John agreed easily, going over to follow his instructions, ripping the curtain into bandage-sized lengths as he walked over to them. "I'm somewhat surprised you're giving him aide." John told him as he knelt down beside him.

"Yeah, well... it'd be murder if I didn't, wouldn't it?" Jim replied.

"If he died before help arrived, then yes, it would." John answered.

Jim went about doing his best to tie off the bleeding. There wasn't too much blood, but he had to make the effort anyway. Internal affairs would be checking him on this, that was for damn sure. He'd been on their watch-list for the last year or so, ever since that 'police brutality' charge against him had made the local news. They were right to watch him though... that was after Ken died and it hadn't been a good time for him. The truth was, they probably should have fired his ass for what he'd done. Not that the guys he'd put in the hospital hadn't deserved it, most would say, but still, that wasn't the job, was it?

His work done, he sighed and sat back against the wall. "You called this in, right?" Jim asked. He'd lost his phone somewhere in the fight with Zsasz, and he'd have to get to his car if he was going to call for back up... smart thing would have been to do that before he'd gone in, of course, but his evidence was thin and he'd called in one too many wild-goose chases on Zsasz lately, so he'd risked it on his own for the sake of his pride. In hindsight, not the brightest decision he'd ever made. "I'm glad you're back, by the way. How was Baranavichy anyway? Cold this time of year?" Jim asked, more just for something to say. He didn't really expect John to give him much of an answer.

John had gone out of town for the last few weeks--visiting family in Belarus, apparently. Jim hadn't heard he was back, but damn how he was glad he was.

"Yes. No rain though." John answered, sitting down next to him. "And yes, I called it in..."

He didn't come right out and say 'like you should have done, moron', but Jim could read between the lines... of course, John wouldn't have called him a moron, that was just his own dramatic embellishment. He wouldn't have said any of it, really--ever--and Jim knew that maybe the concern he'd imagined he'd heard in John's voice could have all been his head playing tricks--John Jones was nothing if not an enigma, after all... but a frustrating and damn beautiful one that he couldn't seem to shake.

John reached over and took his hand, and Jim was surprised, but didn't say anything and didn't turn his head to look at the man sitting next to him. They sat in silence for a minute or so. "Look... I'd get it if you said no... I don't even know..." He trailed off. "Have coffee with me sometime? ...Tomorrow even?"

John was silent.

"You know, never mind. Shouldn't have asked." Jim told him, hating himself just a little for putting himself out there again when he'd known damn well it was probably a mistake.

"...No, coffee... would be nice." John finally spoke.

"...Seriously?" Jim looked over to him, nearly floored.

John just met his eyes and moved closer and Jim's mind went totally blank as John's lips touched his, soft and deliberate... calm, kind, and unassuming, like John always was, but it took his breath away and made him so happy he felt almost dizzy enough to pass out.

In the background, he could hear sirens, but his mind was working again, and he discovered he was returning the kiss, and that was definitely a good thing... otherwise, he'd really have looked stupid.

Their lips parted. "Does that answer your question?" John asked him.

"...Yeah. Yeah, it, uh, really does." Jim replied, a little of a peaceful smile coming to his lips.

(2b continued)


	3. Heavenly Oatmeal

#3: HEAVENLY OATMEAL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

\--- LOIS ---

Lois Lane was snuggled peacefully in bed one Tuesday morning, sleeping contentedly, when something wonderful woke her up. It took her a few seconds to place what it was, then understanding came and she blinked her eyes open and smiled. She was at Renee's, and Renee was making breakfast. Of course she was--Renee always got up early and made breakfast while she slept in--it was their thing.

It was just... it had been a couple months, you know? And that wasn't typical... you know, for them to go so long without at least a one-nighter. She sighed to herself and sat up against the headboard, drawing her legs up, wrapping her arms around her knees, and using that as a pillow for her head ...She guessed she really shouldn't be surprised it had taken two months and change though--their last fight had been one of the worst. That wasn't to say they fought a lot, or not seriously anyway, but when they did... well, neither of them were very good at backing down. And while she herself was usually over it as soon as she'd had a chance to calm down and realize she'd made a mess of things again, Renee usually needed more time... and sometimes groveling. Groveling helped, and flowers, and other distractionary tactics.

Last time, they'd been actually trying to make a serious go of it... they did that every once and a while, seemed like. And when it crashed, it was always harder to come back from... still, two months had been a record. She'd gotten close to a month and a half that one time when she'd been with Cat, close to a month when Renee had been with Kate, but, besides that, they'd never made it more than a couple of weeks without a hook-up, and usually not more than a week... Not that Lois hadn't tried to reconcile (or at least get her in bed) repeatedly of course. It hadn't worked though, much to her continued frustration.

Not until Lois had finally given in and agreed to have dinner with Renee's family again to try to mend fences. To say that she and Louisa Montoya didn't get along was like saying Ireland and England had had a simple misunderstanding all those years. Louisa thought Lois was the reason she had no grandchildren and the reason Renee couldn't have a stable relationship, and Lois could barely stand to be in the same room with her without losing her temper and saying something she would immediately regret. She hated being blamed for being a screw up at her love life. She knew she was one, but that didn't mean there was something wrong with her and she hated it that Louisa thought it did mean that... hated it more that Louisa was never shy about telling her that to her face. She hated Louisa's voice, and the way she looked at her, and the fact that, though she never said it, she knew Louisa was still disappointed that her daughter didn't like men. That kind of attitude was mostly gone from this part of the world, but some people still thought that way and it bugged her in a way she couldn't quite get past.

Renee swore up and down that her mother wanted a reconciliation between them--that she'd come to see the error of her ways and all that. Lois didn't believe it for a second, of course. And she hated that she didn't--that she was like this, with such a quick temper and a sharp tongue sometimes. Renee brought that out in her too, more often that she'd care to think about just now, but with Renee, there were so many other things about her that just got under her skin in really, really good ways... and then, of course, there was making love with her... that... that was everything, right? It sure felt like it most days, anyway...

That's why it stung so much that she couldn't keep their relationship together. That's why Louisa's words always pressed her buttons: because, really, deep down, Lois wasn't sure the woman wasn't right--wasn't sure she wasn't bad for Renee. She wanted to be good for her--she probably wanted that more than most anything at all--but she couldn't seem to get it right. Couldn't seem to drop her walls, or hold her tongue, or stay out of other women's beds... that had happened more often than she'd yet felt the need to tell Renee about, though Renee always seemed to forgive her for it when she did know about it at least... of course, Renee didn't have anything like a spotless record that way either, which at least made Lois feel better about that she messed up that way so much... Not that she liked to think about it as messing up, or as cheating, because it honestly never seemed like those things to her, but it was how most people would look at it... and, of course, that could just be more of that 'destructive influence' Louisa accused her of... As far as she knew, after all, Renee had never been a cheat before her... not that she'd ever asked her that--not that she knew that for sure...

...The dinner was Saturday, so, at least, Lois thought, they had a few days before their doom, right? Probably best to enjoy them?

Give her a few days to prepare to be reminded again that she was a childless, cheating, lesbian who couldn't keep a girlfriend for any length of time and who was the reason Renee was now also a childless, cheating, lesbian who couldn't keep a girlfriend for any length of time... but hey, at least she knew going in what she was probably in for, right?

She looked over to the bedroom door, open just a crack. The coffee smelled really good... and was that oatmeal? Renee's oatmeal was pure heaven... She loved mornings when she was with Renee, she really did...

She smiled to herself and told herself to have a positive attitude and not to be self-defeating and to go out there and be her cheerful, romantic, best possible self... and yes, so okay, she'd read half a self-help book a couple weeks ago--so the hell what? Nothing else had seemed to be working, and she'd gotten kind of desperate. It hadn't worked, Renee still wouldn't take her back, so she'd burned the damn thing in a trash bin and sworn to herself to never, ever tell anyone that she'd bought the book that shall not be named in the first place.

Still, a little of the language was kind of stuck in her head now, as annoying as that was. She sighed again and went to get a shirt from the drawer before heading out into the kitchen. Renee was setting the table for them, like she always did. She looked up from her work and their eyes met and she smiled and Lois couldn't help but smile back. "So, hey." Lois told her kind of obviously.

"Hey." Renee replied, a sort of almost teasing smile on her lips at that. "Talkative as ever this morning, I see?"

"I can talk. You know I can talk. I talk a lot. Too much, according to a lot of people." Lois told her back mildly, leaning against the wall, her attention almost completely absorbed in watching Renee's face and the way she moved... it was one of her favorite things to do, actually. Not -the- favorite, obviously, but it ranked right up there...

"Yeah, guess you got me there, huh?" Renee replied as she came around the table and walked the few steps over to her.

Lois pushed off the wall and met her. Renee was just in a tank-top and shorts... nothing else... and--very important to note--the shirt only went down a little past her chest...

Renee's hand raised to caress her hair just a little, her other hand coming to rest on Lois's hip, Lois's hands snaking around her back and drawing her lover closer, their eyes locked in an easy intimate gaze... there was no shyness between them, even now--there hadn't been for a long time... few real secrets left, either... but Renee never failed to draw Lois in, capture her attention to the exclusion of all else without even trying... It was such a good feeling: being that wrapped up in another person... but, maybe, it was also why it was so hard for her to make this work with her... because Renee could hurt her--hurt her and make her not care that she was hurt. Make her want to be hurt in those ways again a hundred times if needed, if only to have her in her bed as often as she could manage it... It made everything feel that much sharper, and feel that much more important and intense... and, because it made her react on raw feelings more than any sort of rational thought, it also tended to make her very, very stupid and thoughtless sometimes...

Renee's hand had trailed down to cup her cheek just so now--the gentle, delicate touch sending shivers of fresh, bare, want all the way through her everything. "Good morning." Lois spoke in just a whisper, moving in to kiss her because she was one-hundred percent helpless not to do that. Just a brush of lips first, sending sparks along the inside of her skin, and then a deliberate push--contact, sweet and fleeting, as Lois pulled back a little and brushed her lips lightly again, making Renee move forward and take the initiative, take her lips and make her exhale a soft sigh full of a feeling of rightness as Renee pushed her back against the wall and their bodies came together in an eager rush that had Lois feeling hot and so very alive--her senses focused solely on the moment and on every point of contact between them, her chest aching with the sudden sharp desire to tear this woman's clothes off if she needed to, and have her right here if Renee would let her...

Their chests pressed together, Lois's hands on Renee's toned back, feeling the delicious softness of her skin... their tongues dancing together in long remembered ways, neither looking for the upper hand at the moment. Lois was thoroughly enjoying the kiss... so much so, she made this whining, kind of pathetic kind of sound when Renee pulled back and stopped kissing her. Their eyes met, Lois feeling confused and vaguely disgruntled... Brooding and deep thoughts aside, her body hadn't really woken all the way up yet... at least it hadn't until that kiss. Now her body was awake--very awake--and it had about zero interest in Renee not kissing her at the moment.

"Good morning." Renee told her, smiling and looking just a little too pleased with herself.

"I hate you--you know that, right?" Lois told her.

"You love me, you've said so often enough. You talk a lot, remember?" Renee countered.

"Yeah, well: fine line and all that." She told her, moving forward so their lips were a fraction on an inch apart. "Now, shut the hell up, please?" She whispered the question, moving in and kissing that spot just where the corner of Renee's jaw was and going on from there.

Renee sighed and made a sort of disgruntled sound of her own... one that was impossibly cute--one that no one who hadn't been her lover would likely believe she was capable of. "I worked really hard on breakfast, you know that?" Renee scolded her gently.

"That wasn't very smart then... was it?" Lois asked, moving down across the length of her shoulder blade.

"You hate cold oatmeal." Renee reminded her.

Lois hesitated, whined again, and let her head drop onto Renee's shoulder. "Have I told you how annoying it is sometimes when you make sense?" She asked.

"Yes." Renee answered.

"I hate it when you flirt with me before breakfast... it's mean." Lois told her.

"So, I'm mean sometimes. You know that about me." Renee replied.

"And you're going to let me have my way with you after we eat to make it up to me." Lois told her.

"I don't go on-shift until one." Renee told her.

Lois felt a decidedly happy surge of emotions go through her. "You know, I'd forgotten about that." She told her. Come to think of it, Renee had outlasted her in bed last night--a chance at a rematch sounded like just the thing she wanted today. It burns more calories than any gym, after all, if you do it right. "You're right: breakfast. We'll need the energy." She told her, sliding neatly out from Renee's clutches and making for the breakfast table.

Renee followed along with a peaceful and happy look on her face. Lois saw that look as they sat down across from each other--it was a look that said: all is right with the world and it's because of you. Lois smiled and felt a whole other kind of warmth go through her. She swallowed and leaned her elbows on the table, resting her chin in her hands and just enjoyed watching Renee again for a few minutes, Renee watching her right back as though she could do it all day... At times like this, it was hard for Lois to understand how they could fight and/or break up so stupidly often. Why couldn't it always just be like this? Breakfast and flirting and lots of sex and then going to work, maybe making the world a little better place while there, getting home, having dinner, having lots sex again, going to sleep, and then doing it all over again... Some adventure now and then to keep it interesting and win her a few more awards. She could really get behind the idea of having a life just like that. Was that so impossible? Was it just a fairy tale, or could they really have that if they both just let themselves have it? 

She wanted to believe it was possible at least. Right now, looking into Renee's eyes like she was and, neither of them saying a word, she did believe it. She completely believed it.

Then Renee smirked again a little and said: "Hey, Lane--eat already." And the moment was gone.

Lois shook her head, feeling tweaked and unapologetically lustful about Renee's lips... and her chest... shoulders, ears, arms, fingers, hair... all right there in front of her with a table very unfairly between them. Two whole fucking months... She sighed and looked down at the food, shook herself out of her lust as best she could, and drank some coffee. "It smells really good." She offered, wondering to herself why they weren't eating this while naked in bed at least... of course they had tried that a few times and it sometimes didn't end so well, she considered... Two months... naked in bed... two months... These were the thoughts she kept having. Those two months had been the worst torture of her life, really they had... and she had literally been tortured for an hour that once, by drug smugglers, so she wasn't being flip by thinking that...

Renee sipped her coffee too. "Thanks." She replied.

"Lucy's coming in to town next week..." Lois put forwards, trying to get her mind off of sex by introducing a topic of conversation.

"Oh yeah? She and Clara still together?" Renee asked curiously.

"Oh yeah. She's practically all Lucy ever talks about." Lois told her bemusedly. She was happy for her sister, really happy. And Clara was awesome, she had to admit that too... it just... nagged at her sometimes. Her mom, her cousin, aunt, uncle... she'd never really fit in with them in some ways. Lucy was the only other person who'd actually been -like- her growing up--who'd really understood her... And she and Lucy... well, they were close, but things had gone on there, between them, and she'd been too stubborn to fully mend things... She'd always wished it was different between them. She wanted to be closer with her, like they used to be--had wanted that even more ever since they'd moved to different cities... wanted it more than she'd ever admitted to anyone besides Renee. But it never really worked out that way. Oh, they talked and they loved each other and they... but there was just... distance there... and she hated it...

"They've been together, what, almost a year and a half now?" Renee asked.

Lois smiled. "Yeah. The monogamy thing..." She sighed. "Sometimes I really wish I could manage it, you know..." Her words were wistful, almost sad.

"...My cousin Maria does it too, you know." Renee replied after a beat. "Married a guy named Neil, has a kid. You think Lucy and Clara will? You know, get married... have kids?"

Lois considered that. "Lucy wants them. Kids..." She replied, considering her sister. "Yeah, it wouldn't surprise me if it went that way. They're good together... Clara's friend, Rebecca, she's got a new boyfriend--Zach. I went to see them last month in D.C., you know... Apparently he'll make even me swoon if she lets me see him shirtless." Lois told her.

"Yeah, that's happening." Renee laughed. "She must really not know you very well, huh?"

"I'm going to say no." Lois replied.

"You know, come to think of it, I've never asked... have you ever been attracted to a man? Even just to look at? Even just a whim?" Renee asked.

"Nope, not once." Lois answered easily. And it was true, she was dead sure she never had. She'd tired to look at men that way a few times, in fact, just to settle her own curiosity about why a lot of women would want to. It had been like looking at a tree and trying to make yourself see a horse--she'd got nothing. "Lucy's the same as me that way too..." Lois told her wistfully.

"Yeah, I remember you telling me that." Renee answered.

"I did try a few times, looking at a man to see if I could see something." Lois admitted what she hadn't told anyone before. "Just because I was curious, you know... I mean, a lot of women are attracted to them. Most, in fact, even most lesbians, at least to some small degree. It's always been a little odd to me, you know um, that I can't relate to feeling that way for one of them at all. I just can't see it. I mean, you know I get along with guys just fine, but when it comes to that... they might as well be cats or dogs or birds or bears for all the appeal they have to me that way. Dead zero, in other words..." She trailed off. "Not that I'm saying being with a man is like being with a cat, I mean, I didn't mean it that way." She hurried to correct.

Renee laughed. "Yeah, I know what you meant." She told her fondly. "And it's not a big deal, you know. It's just you, right? I'm sure you and Lucy aren't the only ones."

"Yeah, I know." Lois smiled back. "...Have you?" Lois asked curiously.

"What, looked at a man that way? Sure. Plenty of times..." She told her honestly. "Only acted on it once..."

"When?" Lois asked, even more curious.

"When I was seventeen... well, you know. Could tell my family wasn't thrilled about me being... Anyway, so I found a guy that looked pretty and had a nice smile and who I thought I wouldn't necessarily kick out of bed and I asked him out."

"How it go?" Lois asked, fascinated and purposefully making herself not get mad at Renee's family again.

"Fine. I had a nice time. I dropped him back at his place, his dads thought I was great and asked me in for soda. I ended learning how to play poker." She laughed. "We went out on a few more dates. Mom and dad were so happy..." She sighed. "I was going to take him to bed, you know. I really was... Thought I was, anyway. Couldn't do it though."

"No?" Lois asked.

"I liked him, really liked him... I just... It wasn't there for me, you know?" Renee told her.

"No spark?" She asked.

"Not like you mean, no." Renee answered. "It's... I looked at him laying there and I thought I liked the way he looked... he was beautiful and he smelled like the ocean--maybe I even liked the idea of being with him like that... but it just would have been nice, you know? Just nice... not... I mean, I felt more passion gazing at Francesca Sanchez from afar than I did from being naked in a bed with him... it just wouldn't have been... I liked him too much to do that to him, and, in the end, I knew I deserved better than doing something like I was going to do just to make my parents happy. So I apologized..."

Lois smiled fondly. "Not disappointed in how it turned out, I hope?" She asked, feeling a little insecure and trying to squash that feeling out... unsuccessfully, apparently.

Renee regarded her thoughtfully for a long moment, then she smiled a little. "You know... it's funny we haven't had this conversation before. You know, about the male of the species. I kind of would have thought we would have told each other all this by now..."

"Right. Would have thought..." Lois smiled a little, though she wasn't sure she really felt it.

"...I'm not disappointed." Renee told her, not meeting her eyes.

"...No?" Lois asked hopefully.

"No, I mean... okay, yes... I thought--I thought my life would be different you know?" She confessed.

"That you'd be married by now, you mean?" Lois asked her.

"Maybe, I don't know. It's what I was raised to want anyway, and... is a happily ever after such a bad thing to want?" Renee asked.

"Hell no... I... You have to know I... I'd love to marry you..." Lois told her quietly.

"You... would?" Renee asked, skepticism clear in her voice.

"I mean... yeah. Who else would I..." She looked up and met Renee's eyes. "Ask me--anytime. I'll say yes. Promise." She smiled. "You know I... I can't promise I'd stay faithful all the time, and I... I know I'm not much of a catch in a few other ways too maybe, but, we could try, right?"

"...I'd be a train wreck and you know it." Renee told her almost shyly, a little smile on her lips that had Lois breathing funny and feeling like she had a lump in her throat. Fuck... she's really thinking about it, isn't she? Lois realized, somehow a little in disbelief that she really had Renee that hooked... It was definitely a good feeling though.

"That's a distinct possibility, I admit... but I'd... like you said, I love you... I... I really do... and that's worth any risk, right?" Lois asked.

Renee just looked back at her, met her eyes, and didn't say anything. Then there was that shy smile again.

"Say something...?" Lois finally asked.

"Did you just ask me to marry you?" Renee asked.

"I... that... I... guess so?" Lois responded helplessly.

(2b continued)


	4. Sexy Apologies

#4: SEXY APOLOGIES

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Renee laughed, a few tears falling down her cheeks which she wiped away.

Lois wanted to laugh too--it seemed like it would be the thing to do. All she could manage was a weak smile though. She felt like she had a knot in her throat and a pit in her stomach and maybe butterflies too. This was in no way what she was expecting to happen. How the fuck had she managed to propose marriage without even realizing she was doing it?! And now she was being laughed at... This, to her, did not seem like a good sign at all...

"Not exactly a ring hidden in a wine glass, was it?" Lois asked feebly.

"Not so much, no." Renee replied, looking kind of lost. Renee looked up and met her eyes, wiping away a few errant tears. "Ask me again in a week, okay?"

"Yeah... yeah, okay..." Lois replied, getting up.

"Where... um, where are you going?" Renee asked, sounding worried.

"I... I need some air, okay?" Lois told her, going around the table and over towards the balcony.

"Lois, wait?" Renee caught her wrist as she passed.

Lois waited but didn't look at her and didn't say anything.

"I'm... I'm sorry, okay?" She told her in a soft voice.

That got Lois's heart beating a little faster. Both the tone of her voice and the fact that Renee had apologized... Renee didn't do that too often. Lois tended to notice it when she did. She looked over at her as Renee got to her feet and their eyes met. "...You are?" She asked.

"I am... Look, I know you didn't mean to... I kind of put you on the spot." Renee told her.

"I still meant it." Lois told her, turning to meet her eyes. She knew what she was doing was stupid, but she didn't have it in her to back down right now. If Renee wanted to get married, she wasn't going to be the one that said she wouldn't go through with it. That wasn't going to be her fault--it just damn well wasn't.

Their eyes locked and sparks were definitely flying. "You're so damn stubborn sometimes..." Renee told her under her breath.

"And you're not?" Lois asked softly back.

Renee kissed her then--hard and insistent--and Lois was caught breathless by it a moment, but then started to give back as good as she was being given. The kiss just seemed to go on and on and get softer and sweeter all the time. "Alright..." Renee finally said, breaking off the kiss gently. "Alright, fine: yes."

"...'Yes' what?" Lois asked probably the flat-out stupidest question she'd ever asked in her entire life.

"Yes... I'll marry you. Idiot." Renee told her almost playfully.

"Oh, um, okay then..." Lois tried to catch her breath. Her heart was working double-time in her chest. How was this happening right now?

"You can back out if you want?" Renee asked.

Lois met her eyes again. "Shut the fuck up." She told her and kissed her again.

Renee laughed against the kiss, but then melted in her arms like a love-sick school girl and Lois felt like she was probably going to throw up later in the day at some point, but for right now, she actually felt kind of high off of the whole thing. "The oatmeal's probably lukewarm by now." Lois pointed out by the time she broke apart their heated kiss. She felt like she needed to play the oatmeal card just now. It was a revenge thing.

Renee blinked and looked into her eyes. "I hate you too."

"You love me and you know it. Or did I just imagine the part where you just said yes when I asked you to marry me--even though you apparently know in advance it's going to be a train wreck?" Lois asked innocently.

Renee sighed. "Idiot." She replied, kissing her again for good measure and going to sit down. "Coming?"

Lois sighed. "Yeah." She never corrected Renee when she called her that... probably because she secretly knew it was true. If there was one person in the world that could turn her into an idiot and make her like it, it was Renee.

"So... married, huh?" Lois proffered as she sat back down and took her first bite of oatmeal, closing her eyes and humming a little at how good it was, even teetering towards lukewarm as it now was.

"Yeah, it was kind of unexpected." Renee replied, eating some oatmeal herself.

"Wasn't it though?" Lois replied.

"We're both insane--you do realize that, don't you?" Renee pointed out.

Lois enjoyed another bite of oatmeal before replying: "It's probably a dumb idea, yeah, but insane? Isn't that a little harsh?"

"Yeah, it is..." Renee told her. "Sorry."

Lois smiled. "Why do I find it so sexy whenever I hear you say that?"

"...Probably for the same reason I do when you say it... because we're sexually deviant that way." Renee answered. "We're overly competitive, we don't back down without a fight, and we both like to win a little to much for it to be strictly healthy..."

"Sounds like we're probably too much alike, then." Lois replied, eating more oatmeal. "No wonder we're so bad for each other."

"No wonder..." Renee replied, gazing at her and looking absurdly happy about the whole thing.

Lois was secretly thrilled by that look and had to smile to herself. She actually started to feel kind of content with the whole thing as she sat there eating her oatmeal... but, then again, it could just be the oatmeal... it really was criminal how good it was. Left to her own devices, she usually just subsisted on heath drinks, trail mix, fruit, raw vegetables, and rationed portions of coffee-flavored dark chocolate. She was obsessive about keeping in shape and looking her best. The reason she wanted to look her best was obvious, and keeping in shape was mainly so she could keep up with Renee in bed, honestly... still, she'd never had the patience or desire to cook. She'd tried a few times, under the heading of romantic gestures for Renee, and twice for Cat when they'd been together, but that was about it...

They ate together, chatted and bantered some more, had a very, very pleasant shower together... all through it, Lois was thinking things through in her head. This -was- kind of insane. They'd been apart for more than two months and had just been back together a little more than a day and they were getting married? True, they'd known each other, been together on and off, since Renee was in the police academy and Lois had just gotten her first writing job at a life style magazine that shall remain nameless. They'd both barely been nineteen at the time, had met at a club, Renee had tapped her on the shoulder and asked her to dance, their eyes had met, and that was pretty much how her life had happened this way. Six years later, and they still made each other crazy... in the good, the bad, and the completely great senses of the term.

They didn't work as a couple long term--they'd established that. They tried and they failed, over and over and over and over... They'd both tried once each to have a serious relationship with another woman--she'd had Cat, and Renee had had Kate--but neither of them could stick with it. She'd cheated on Cat with Renee and Renee had cheated on Kate with her. Cat still didn't know about that, and Lois wasn't about to tell her because she really didn't want to hurt her if she could avoid it, but Kate had found out and that's what had broken her and Renee up... 

All that said something though, didn't it? It said they'd ruined each other for other relationships... or maybe it said that she'd ruined Renee, just like Louisa said. Either way, maybe this was... you know, what they needed. Maybe they could make it work... It was going to be painful, Lois knew that, and they'd fight a lot, she knew that too, and they'd both cheat, probably a lot in her case at least... and... but maybe it could work anyway? She knew she was going to try at any rate.

She hadn't meant to propose like that--maybe she hadn't even actually proposed... but Renee had called her on, maybe not seriously either, but either way, and, Renee'd been right: they were both probably way too stubborn to back down at this point, even if it was probably going to be a disaster... maybe a really, really bad one this time... Two months though. She just had to keep repeating that in her head to remind herself what it meant if she messed things up again...

Back in bed, hair still slightly damp but warm from the hairdryer, Renee was laying naked on her back under her, their eyes were locked and it was intense and Lois felt the thrill of it in her body, under her skin, her heart beating fast. She felt so warm all over and she in no way wanted to talk anymore.

"Lois..." Renee spoke softly.

"Shut up, dummy." Lois told her softly, moving down to kiss her. Their lips met and it was sweet and deliberate and soft to start, Lois draping her body over her lover's in motions that were so intrinsically familiar to her by now she did them without thinking. She and Renee had been lovers so, so many times by now, they knew each other, she knew every little thing Renee liked and every small way she loved to be touched... 

Her hand traced up Renee's thigh, hip, ribs, up to cup one of her breasts... their thighs fit together just so as they just barely started to slide against one another. The touch of Renee's skin against hers was heaven--soft, fit, and taught over an impeccably maintained physique... the scent of her, all fresh and clean and, to Lois at least, the very definition of intoxicating...

Renee's hands on her, one gliding smoothly over the plains of her back, the other in her hair, coming to rest at the back of her neck as their kiss intensified and Lois squeezed Renee's breast a little more firmly, pushing up and feeling the nipple hard at her touch. Her right hand that had been tangled in Renee's hair around the top of her head now came down to the side of her head, just around her ear as they began to move against one another with steadily building need, their kiss growing harder and more fervent.

The feelings going through Lois were sharp and intense. She was afraid, she knew she was. Married? This could completely screw things up between them so easily... of course, on the bright side, the look on Louisa's face when they told her about it this weekend would be so utterly priceless that it might just make it worth the risk all by itself... not that she was going to share that particular uncharitable thought with Renee, because she wasn't. Fuck, Renee really did have it right when she said they both liked to win a little too much, didn't she?

Was that why they always found their way back to each other? Because neither of them could really win where the other was concerned and they were both too damn stubborn to quit? It was kind of a depressing thought to think about--even more so because Lois suspected there might be at least a little truth to it...

Being like this with her though, it was impossible for Lois to believe that was anything more than just a minor aspect of it... maybe the part that caused the most trouble, come to think of it, but... but what kept her coming back? What kept her thinking about Renee at least a hundred times a day? That was something else. She knew it and believed it with all her heart. It was something real--probably the most real thing in her life, not that she really liked to dwell on it usually: how essential to her happiness Renee had managed to become. Oh, she loved her job--the thrill of the chance and the knowledge that she was making a real difference in the world by what she was doing... she loved her family, her friends, her life, and, okay, yes, she loved bedding other women too... and that was maybe a problem, but it didn't mean what she was feeling was any less true, did it? She didn't want to think so... she really didn't want to think that... The point was, of all of those, Renee was the one she'd chose to keep if she could only have one of them... she'd forsake the rest if it came down to it--she was sure of it... if the last two months had taught her anything, it had taught her that, and with about as much subtlety as a rock to the head, too...

So maybe... maybe the marriage thing was just what she needed? Maybe it was time to finally say it out loud for once? Tell Renee that she'd chose her... that she'd always choose her...? Maybe... maybe that would fix some things...

Renee surged up against her and rolled her over then, pinning her on her back, grinding her thigh down against Lois's center and a kissing her with an almost desperate hunger and all of Lois's troubled and hopeful thoughts went away and she was kissing Renee back with a need that had hold of her so tightly now that she probably couldn't get herself to stop if she tried. She gasped out of the kiss as it broke and Renee began to kiss her neck, using her teeth and tongue to amazing effect, even as their legs and thighs tangled together more and they started to really move together in an intense but very in-sync kind of way... That was the wonderful part of having a lover you'd been with so many times... you didn't have to think about it anymore, you could just let your bodies do what they knew so well how to do and enjoy the intense pleasures, satisfaction, and feelings of connection and belonging and love that came in the bargain.

Renee's hand forced it's way down between the press of their bodies to find her target and hook her fingers inside. Lois cried out softly at the welcome penetration and rolled Renee over onto her back again, taking her lover's lips with hers and kissing her with everything she had, their tongues hard at work as they pressed harder together and Lois somehow managed to hook her own hand into Renee's wet and throbbing sex. Renee gasped and broke the kiss, Lois groaned and tried to kiss her neck, but ended up not being able to focus enough. Her breath was coming hard and they were grinding together, thrusting together, she heard Renee say her name and Lois told her to shut up again. Renee kissed her again and rolled them over so she was on top again and Lois was gone--she cried out softly as her head blanked out completely and satisfaction shuddered through her body in waves, Renee right there with her, clinging to her and now kissing her neck just under her ear again.

Lois rolled them over again and kissed her lover intensely as she felt the aftershocks of her orgasm still going through her in waves. The kiss broke and they were both breathing hard. "Again?" Lois asked hopefully. She was so keyed up now, it wasn't even funny. This whole marriage proposal thing? It seriously had her wanting to get her brains fucked out for a while so she could work out all the worries and tension that were still present in the back of her mind. Sex always helped... helped a lot, really. At least for her. Renee liked the talking thing more than she did, and that was frustrating to her sometimes, but also, she thought, probably good... She'd never been one for talking about her feelings very much, and Renee was probably the only person she'd ever met, besides maybe her sister sometimes, who could actually get her to open up and say things like that out loud. And even Lucy had never... she knew she'd never be able to say half the things she'd told Renee to her sister.

There was a trust there--one she'd never felt with anyone else... but there was also fear too... fear she'd never felt with anyone else either. Fear that she wasn't good enough, that she'd mess up one too many times, that all the things Renee's damn mother said might just be true, and that, in the end, Renee would write her off and not give her any more chances...

A fear like that, you'd think it would be enough to get her to stop sleeping around and provoking arguments and whatever else, but, apparently, she had impulse control issues that way...

"Shut up." Renee finally told her after staring into her eyes, apparently at a loss for words for a while... her eyes were still almost boring into Lois's head with what they were demanding from her: to just be here with her and damn the rest.

Lois smiled, feeling a sharp and completely welcome thrill. "I can do that." She told her, kissing her. And that was all it took to spark things between them again. They went at each other like they both had something to prove, and it wasn't until two or three orgasms later that Lois felt herself really start to calm down and get to that peaceful place inside herself that sex gave to her. It was a form of communication, she really believed that... Words were fine, and she could paint a story with them in ways that made people understand a lot of things... but sex--making love--put words to shame for her in a way she couldn't even understand or explain, even to herself. She knew she craved that feeling of understanding another woman though... knew it made her feel more alive and more amazing that anything... it was a rush, a thrill, yes, but it was something else too...

Some time later, well into the morning, Lois found herself turned around and between Renee's legs, Renee spread wide for her as she sucked and swirled her tongue. Her heart was beating wildly and her breaths were shuddering as Renee used her fingers inside Lois to wonderful effect. She was trying to hold back, but she knew it was fast becoming a lost cause, so she flicked her tongue and pressed her thumb down on Renee's clit as she let herself reach orgasm on Renee's quickly pumping fingers. Her mouth filled with Renee's ejaculation and she broke away swallowing and gasping as she felt Renee's body arch and buck under her and heard her lover's cries of passion matching her own. 

As she came down, she swallowed a couple more times, breathing hard and feeling completely great. She smiled and started to attentively lick her lover, cleaning her of some of the evidence of their passion. Renee moaned erotically as she did, and, when Lois finally finished and lay the side of her head on Renee's thigh and sighed blissfully, she heard Renee sigh too and smiled, her eyes fluttering shut. "Break time..." She murmured.

"Seconded..." Renee replied, a happy smile evident in her voice.

They lay there for a while like that, until finally one of them broke the silence.

"...We aren't really going to get married, are we?" Renee asked.

Lois's eyes flew open at that and feelings of insecurity immediately came on, so fast and so sharp that it surprised her. She just lay there silently for a few moments, her mind working, then she got up on her hands and sat back on her knees, looking down at Renee. Their eyes met, and Lois went on her hands and knees over top of her lover. Her eyes trailed down to Renee's lips, open in a very sexy way that had Lois's heart beating fast in her chest again.

"If you want to, we are..." Lois told her, lowering herself down to one side of Renee, cupping her cheek, and meeting her eyes again. The emotions were kind of raw and her chest ached a little at them. "This isn't just me being stubborn, lover... Or, it's that, but more than that, it's... Since the day we met, you... you've been it for me, Renee. I'm... I can be really bad at showing that sometimes--way too often I guess--but it's true anyway. You... you're the center of my world, Renee... I think about you practically every other minute most of the time... So, if you're in... so am I, all the way..."

"Lois... I... But..." Renee sighed.

"You think I don't know it's going to be one holy hell of a mess?" Lois asked, feeling vulnerable and knowing it showed through in her voice. "I know that."

"Then why do you want it so much?" Renee asked tenderly. "Why do we both always come back?"

"Simple answer: It's worth it. For me, it's always going to be worth it... way, way... way past worth it... always. And if getting married means I'm signing up for that- to stick it out and make it work no matter what and no matter how many times we both screw it up, then yeah... I can't think of one reason I wouldn't want that."

"...Okay then." Renee smiled. "So... we're getting married."

"...Yeah?" Lois asked, that vulnerability back in force in her voice.

"Fuck yeah." Renee told her softly, rolling her over onto her back and kissing her, then necking, and then... going down further.

(2b continued)


	5. Between The Words

#5: BETWEEN THE WORDS

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

\--- JIM ---

Jim was just getting out of bed. He'd got home late last night. He'd gone out to see a boxing match with Jack, Nick, and Charlie and they'd gone to a bar afterwards. He and Nick never drank alcohol, but Jack and Charlie had gone home buzzed. By rights, Jim knew he should have been a mess with the whole... Zsasz thing and all, but all night all he'd been really thinking about was John and their date the next day after his shift.

John wasn't the kind of guy that liked sports, so boxing had been out, but honestly... he'd been glad of the time to really think this whole thing over. When he'd asked him out, he honestly had not thought John would say yes--sure as hell hadn't thought he'd kiss him like that. He let himself fall back onto the bed on his back and closed his eyes, thinking about it. He smiled and felt himself get hard in his sorts.

Absently, he reached down under his shorts and stroked himself a little, his body reacting immediately. The memory of it, and the thought of John here with him, naked over him, touching him... his hands doing all sorts of things...

He sat up, frustrated, and took off his shorts, getting the rubbing oil he kept in his night stand and putting some in his hand. He lay back and stroked himself, taking his time, and imagining John... He tried to make it last a while, but soon he was ejaculating over his bare chest and breathing harder. The feelings of satisfaction and pleasure were short lived of course, and it left him feeling alone after it was gone. Doing it yourself never got close to what it felt like to be with another man, and that was just a fact...

He sighed and rolled up to sitting, running a hand (the one that wasn't wet with rubbing oil) through his hair. Guy had to make due with what he could get though sometimes, you know? He'd... kind of had a dry spell the last while, going after Zsasz like he'd been, yeah, but... he wasn't really... he didn't date much anymore. He just... kind of had gotten to hate it a little, you know?

Sure, he still did it sometimes, and sometimes it lasted a while... sometimes it gave him some company in bed for a week or two if he was lucky, or even just a night sometimes... He'd never really been lucky in love. High school, he'd had Lance Johnson, his first... they'd actually lasted through Lance's freshman year in college and Jim's first in the academy, until Lance had had enough of him and thrown him over for another guy (Jim still didn't really known why, but he suspected it was mainly that they hadn't been able to spend as much time together because of the academy). Then there'd been Ken of course... less said there, the better. In between and after (after a few months of mourning in Ken's case), he'd dated, but he hadn't had much luck there. It was hard, you know? For a cop... Not many people could take it. Probably why so many cops ended up together, he guessed...

John though... It hadn't happened right away. It wasn't love at first sight or anything... but he'd liked him somehow--just liked spending time with him. He'd made it his business to make John his friend. And, since no one else on the force really wanted to work with the guy all too much, or, at least, no one else had wanted to be his friend, they'd naturally ended up working together pretty often because he was the guy John always called when he needed police help on a case. And Jim himself had started asking for John's help sometimes too, when he'd reached a dead end and needed a fresh lead or something like that. His partner Josie had gone along with it too, no problems. It had turned into a pretty good arrangement, in fact.

They just... worked, you know? He found John so damn easy to talk with, just easy to be around. He was honest, brave, hard working--an all around great guy... he just kept to himself mostly and wasn't what you'd call traditionally social was all. He'd known he was great to look at too, that was something anyone with eyes could see, but he hadn't really let himself see John that way... No, it had taken Josie telling him flat-out for him to actually realize that he'd fallen for him... hard.

He hadn't done anything about it at first. Over time, John had just become part of his circle of friends. And his friends liked him well enough, he guessed, except his roommate Gwen maybe, who was shy of him somehow and hardly talked to him when he was around (whatever that was about... he'd asked her about it once and she hadn't given him a straight answer so he'd left it be). Josie seemed to be the only one that really saw him like Jim did though--saw how... how great he was. And maybe that wasn't saying much, he supposed. Josie had horrible taste in women after all--kind of ridiculously so--all because she seemed to be drawn to the bad ones and could never see anyone's bad-side when her heart was involved. Which was one heck of a bad combination, and kind of odd too, because she was a damn good detective--intuitive, with dead-on instincts... when it came to anything but romance apparently. So maybe having Josie's blessing was more of a curse than a blessing, but whatever the case, it wasn't like he could change how he felt or anything, so...

Still, he'd taken his time, still skittish about opening himself up to that kind of hurt again after what had happened with Ken. And then, once he'd finally gotten up the courage to do it, he'd taken a chance and kissed John in that ally and laid it all on the line.

After all, like it or not... like it or not, he was in love with the guy. Stupidly, hopelessly in love... 

After how things had gone in the ally though, well... he'd been pretty miserable about it for weeks and weeks, even though he'd tried not to let on so much. And he'd just about gotten himself to deal with it too, just about gotten himself convinced that it just plain wasn't going to happen, then... then this happens.

"I fucking swear to God, if he's messing with my head about this..." He pulled at his hair a little, then let his hand drop, got up, and went to clean off and take his morning shower.

When he got out a while later, breakfast was already on, courtesy of his roommate, Gwen. He and Gwendolyn Sterling went back a ways. They'd met on his first big case. Gwen was the newly orphan, daughter of a New York businessman named Adrian Sterling. Her old man had been in town for a meeting and ended up dead--shot--his dead body falling off the roof of the hotel he and his daughter had been staying at.

All the evidence had pointed to Gwen as the shooter, and he'd just been a uniformed cop back then, not a detective, but he'd been one of the first responders and he'd seen Gwen sitting there crying with the gun in her lap. She'd looked up at him then and asked for his help. That look in her eyes... he'd been dead sure and then some she was innocent. Gwen had been arrested though. Her lawyers soon had her out on bail of course, but no one else on the force who was working the case were looking very hard into alternate scenarios--the evidence had been that solid looking. Unless something changed, it looked like a done deal she was going away for the murder. Jim had buried himself in the case, on duty and off, whenever he'd had open time, no matter that his S.O. had told him to stop, and he'd cracked it. Found the real killer and cleared Gwen's name.

She'd asked him out after it had happened. He'd had to turn her down though, obviously, because he'd never been attracted to women, but she'd been undeterred and asked if they could be friends then. He'd said sure, thinking it was just a passing fancy for her and she'd get over it, move back to New York, and they'd probably lose touch. Hadn't happened though. She'd taken over for her old man and run his company, made it a big success. Not fortune five-hundred big, but enough that she had money to burn if she wanted. She'd moved the company H.Q. to Gotham-Metropolis as soon as she'd had the opportunity, and asked him to be her roommate.

He'd been reluctant, but Gwen was good at talking people into things, and, before he'd really known better, he'd said yes. So here he was, living in a bigger, nicer condo than probably just about anyone on the force had. It had taken a while to get used to, but, in the end, Gwen was his friend, a really good one as it turned out, and that made it a lot easier for him to get past his pride about it.

He put on a pair of sweat pants and went out to get breakfast. He was damn thankful it was her turn today. After the day he'd had yesterday, being able to sleep in that little bit more had been a relief. "Hey Gwen." He greeted, walking down through the recessed living area towards the kitchen and the bar where they usually ate together. There was a formal table set, but they only used that when they had guests over.

She turned around and smiled to him, looking over his naked chest with an appreciative eye. He was never quite sure how much she meant looks like that, but he didn't mind them much either way and was happy to let her have her fun. "Jim, good morning." She greeted back, taking her bowl of cut fruit with her over to the bar and sitting down. Jim walked over and sat down opposite her.

"Looks good." Her complemented her on the breakfast.

"Thanks. So, I um... Romy called." Gwen started, not quite meeting his eyes.

"Yeah... it was, uh, it went bad on me, yeah. Don't... don't worry about it though. Just the job, you know?" He offered hopefully.

"No, yeah... I know, it's just... You should have, I mean Josie, she's your partner, you..." She sighed. "I'd hate to think you're trying to get my favorite roommate killed, you know?" She offered.

"I'm not, really I'm not." Jim met her eyes and felt like crud for putting that look there. She usually took the dangers of his job in stride, but, yeah, he could see how something like this might push that accepting nature of hers a bit too far. He could hardly blame her. "I just..."

"What?" Gwen asked with an open mind.

He sighed. "The guy wound me up, okay? Josie had that thing with her sister that day, and it was supposed to be my day off, and I guess... I'd dragged her around so many other places over the last couple weeks, and her sister's only in town a couple days longer. Felt guilty, I guess. And I didn't call for backup because guys down at the station were already riding me over how many dead ends I'd run down on this one..."

Gwen smiled a little. "I get it. I do..." She answered. "I mean, I felt kind of like that taking over for dad. You know how much I messed up those first few weeks?"

Jim's eyes widened a little. "No, you never said."

"Well, yeah, okay... so, see? I get it." She smiled. "Just, um, don't do it again, okay? For me?"

Jim laughed. "Yeah, yeah, okay." He agreed.

"Good. Now um, yeah... I um, so lets eat breakfast, okay?" She went on.

Jim regarded her a moment. She only usually got this way when it was about John. "Romy told you what happened, didn't she? That I asked him out, right?"

"I... yeah, so... she might have done that." Gwen replied a little helplessly. "We, um, we don't have to talk about it though." She offered.

"Yeah, sure, but uh... I mean, why not? Why's John get under your skin like this?" He asked softly. He hadn't planned to ask. It was only the second time he'd ever asked her about it, but now... now that it looked like it could maybe really happen, he kind of... wanted to know.

"I uh, well... no reason... I guess..." She hedged, not meeting his eyes again.

"Gwen, come on, you can tell me. Whatever it is, you know we're solid, right? I'm not going to friend-dump you because you hate the guy I'm dating or something." He offered jokingly.

"Yeah I... I know that, I do." She hedged further. "I... I don't know, okay? And I don't hate John Jones. I don't, okay, it's just..." She sighed. "You know, it's... it's not important, okay?" She told him defensively, getting up and making like she was going to beat a hasty retreat. She stopped herself though. "Look, I um, can we not talk about this right now?" She asked.

"I uh, yeah... Yeah, if it's, yeah. You know if, you know if things to get serious between me and him, we're going to have to talk about it sooner or later, right?" He told her.

"No, yeah... I get that." She replied, smiling and looking kind of embarrassed and uncomfortable. "And we will, okay? If... if that happens, then we will."

"...It's not something really bad, is it? Like... you know, some kind of rich people's scandal--like he, I don't know, he's secretly some long lost uncle of yours who's shamed the family by marrying a farm hand or something?" Jim joked.

"Oh no, nothing like that, dear." She replied, keeping up the joke. "No one in my family would ever marry the help, and shame on you for saying otherwise, Jim Corrigan." She bantered back, seeming to get her feet back under her.

"Well, thank goodness for small favors then, right?" He offered.

"Right." She answered, meeting his eyes and gazing at him sort of fondly. She looked away after a beat though. "Look, I um, can we talk about something else now? Please?" She asked hopefully.

"Yeah, sure." Jim agreed amiably enough. Why did he have the feeling all of the sudden that he was missing something though? Huh.

"Have you heard anything new about Josie and Bianca?" Gwen asked avidly.

Jim sighed a little, but smiled. "Yeah, apparently things are going great." He had to root for Josie, same as he always did, but damn, he really hoped this time would be different. "She's going on a double date with her Genie and Beth." Genie was Josie's sister, and Beth was Genie's wife. Josephine and Genevieve MacDonald had a great relationship as sisters, but Josie always lost her cool and acted insecure when her sister was around. Every time she swore up and down she wasn't going to, but she did. Patterns, right? Families... they tended to have those, didn't they.

"They are, huh? You know... we could find out what restaurant and go watch? You know, to be supportive." Gwen offered up hopefully.

"Uh-huh, not happening." Jim answered firmly.

"Spoil my fun, why don't you." Gwen laughed. "I wasn't really going to do it, you know."

"I had hopes." He replied as they continued to eat breakfast.

(2b continued)


	6. Turning On A Smile

#6: TURNING ON A SMILE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

\--- LOIS ---

Alright... so, things with Renee... It was a good thing, right? Great, really. It felt like that anyway... Just, well... there was... an obvious and immediate problem in all of this--one Renee didn't know about--one she'd conveniently neglected to bring up with her... her name was Heather Kelley.

Heather, who'd been living in her apartment and sleeping in her bed for more than a week...

Lois knew she was supposed to be working right now, pulling together her notes for the next story she was working on... one about a certain city councilman whom, and she was just guessing here, probably wouldn't be keeping his job much longer after her story hit. Assuming, of course, she could manage to write the damn thing. Right now, that didn't seem like quite such a sure thing.

She'd gotten a good start, mind you, but then Heather had walked by with that warm and devastatingly addictive smile of hers, kissed her on the cheek, said "Perry wants to see me. Talk later?" and then went into Perry White's office. Perry was the editor in chief of the Daily Planet, where she worked. Heather was a new hire who'd just got in last week.

Lois was tapping her pen on her desk nervously, watching Perry's door. "Damn..." She sighed to herself, running a hand through her hair in frustration... She felt sort of trapped, inside herself maybe. She didn't feel trapped by Renee or Heather or anyone else... she was in love with Renee--deeply, and more completely in love with her than she'd ever had the courage to try to say out loud. How much difference would that really make though? She didn't want this to come between them... even though she knew she was in love with Heather too by this point...

And, yeah, she should have seen all this coming a mile away, she knew that. But, honestly, she'd never been exactly smart about this sort of thing... about her love life. She lead with her heart and always had... It was never a problem for her except where Renee was concerned... That's what Renee was to her, really: the exception, to just about everything... and Renee usually accepted her, and her infidelities, though she often wondered if Renee really felt that way, in her heart, or if she simply tolerated them and had her own as a way to cope... Louisa's words echoed in her head and made her doubt herself all over again. Of course, the obvious thing to do would be to just ask Renee about it, talk it through, but the truth was she was just too scared of what the answer might be to do that...

Sometimes--just sometimes--she wished she could change, and be different person all together.

She looked up at Parry's office again, stared at it really--like that door somehow had an answer to her worries. It didn't of course, so she purposefully turned around in her chair, taking her pad and pen in her hand, intending to try to focus on her story again. A chat icon came up in the corner of her pad and she tapped ignore with her pen. It was only Jimmy. Why did Jimmy like to use the chat function on these things? It was annoying was what it was. He could damn well just call her if it was important. She trained her willpower and focused on the unfinished paragraph in front of her.

Tap, tap, tap went her pen. No words were forthcoming. Literary impotence: rare for her usually, but more common these past two months. She'd thought those days were over now, but apparently not quite yet... She sighed and put the pad down, put her elbows on her desk, rested her chin on the heels of her palms, and let herself really think about this: about what to do about the Heather Kelly of it all.

She'd known her just nine days... not really all that much time at all. Except, it was actually. It was more than enough time, actually. Heather was something kind of rare for her, really... she was a friend. A lover too, obviously, but she found lovers frequently--probably all too frequently--finding a friend, that was hard for her. Besides Renee and her sister Lucy, both of whom she wasn't sure technically counted, Cat was the only other actual friend she had... and that was mostly just down to the fact that Cat was so determined to have it that way (something she was very grateful for, and endeared Cat to her to no end).

And more than that even, Heather -got- her, in a way no one else, even her sister, even Renee, ever had. Of course... Renee got her in so many other ways that Heather didn't... With Heather though, they could practically finish each others' sentences--they just clicked. She didn't have to explain herself--they never argued, never pushed each others' buttons, none of it... it was just so easy with her.

She'd been miserable, you know... missing Renee so much it physically hurt to think about it. She'd been spiraling, really... she'd tried everything she could think of and then some to get Renee back short of agreeing to her ultimatum about Louisa, but none of it had worked. She just hadn't been able to get herself to really consider giving in though, even though she'd been past the point where any good sense she'd had told her she really should do that...

Then Heather had breezed into her life. Their eyes had met across the room, Heather had smiled, Lois had smiled back... Lois had went over to her and they'd talked and Lois had been a goner like no-one's business. They'd gone out dancing, she'd taken her back to her place and they'd made love over and over and over and... and then, at some point, they'd fallen off to sleep together and then morning had come and they'd slept in and had to hurry to get ready for work. As bad luck would have had it, they'd had a staff-meeting that morning about some new policies corporate had handed down--attendance mandatory (and more besides: the travel budget was on the agenda--a subject near and dear to her heart for a number of reasons--so Lois felt she needed to be there so she could give them a piece of her mind if they were trying to cut it instead of doing the sensible thing and increasing it).

Heather had borrowed some of her clothes, and Lois had learned that Heather's newly rented apartment was way across town. Not surprising of course--finding a place to live in this area of the city wasn't an easy thing lately. The words had been out of her mouth before she'd thought about it at all--she invited Heather to live with her, at least until something closer opened up. Heather had smiled and said yes without a second thought and they'd rushed off to work together and Lois had felt great about the whole thing.

It hadn't stopped her wanting to get back together with Renee of course, but Heather had brought her out of her spiraling feelings of despair and made her feel happy again. She and Renee had still been talking and texting regularly of course (they always did that, even when they were fighting), and Renee soon noticed the change too and reacted positively to it. The next week had gone great for her, really... she'd gotten so wrapped up in Heather and they'd gotten pretty inseparable in that time. Heather made her laugh, made her happy and unconditionally accepted--made her feel generally completely great in fact, in and out of bed... but, even still, she hadn't missed being with Renee any less, and, through it all, Lois had still been thinking over and over again in the back of her head, and often in the front of her head, what she could do to fix things between them.

Then, one day, Heather had said something, and it had given her a perspective on the whole thing that she'd never had before and it had just clicked for her that it... just wasn't as important as she'd thought it was not to give in--whether it hurt her pride or not, or even whether Louisa made her suffer for it or not. So she'd called Renee and asked to see her and she'd given up, agreed to try to reconcile with Louisa, and... and now they were back together and they were going to get married.

And she wanted that--she really wanted to be that person for Renee and have a life with her... she wanted to be good for her and make her happy more than anything in the world probably... she wanted to be a wife to her. She just... didn't really know if she could, Heather or no Heather... she just wasn't at all sure if she was capable of it.

She knew she was going to try like hell though.

All of that didn't tell her anything useful about what to do about Heather of course. Obviously, logically, it would solve the immediate problem to just find a way to get Heather out her apartment, but she wasn't the kind of person who could just do that to someone. She'd told Heather she could stay with her until she had a better option, and Lois wasn't about to go back on that. What was more... she didn't want to not have a relationship with Heather. She'd have to talk about this with Renee, she knew she would. Heather wasn't a one-night stand or at all casual... not that she thought of any of her lovers as casual, but that was the word people used for it (as frustrating and nearly incomprehensible as that was for her to try to understand). Regardless, the fact was she wanted Heather to be a permanent presence in her life somehow. Preferably as a frequent lover, but, if not, at least as a friend.

So... maybe she could offer to move in with Renee, and let Heather just have her apartment? She and Renee were getting married, right? They'd do that anyway... just, her apartment was closer to work and generally bigger and nicer than Renee's. Not that Renee's wasn't nice, it was, it was just... She sighed. Maybe it was just a sacrifice she'd have to make?

Anyway, it was all only guesswork until she talked with Renee about it--not that she was looking forward to that at all...

They'd just gotten back together. Two months... two fucking horrible months... That was the thing of it. She didn't want to go through that again... and, she had to admit, she wasn't really above lying to ensure she didn't. Maybe she should be above that, but she wasn't. Just... she didn't really think lying or avoiding mentioning it would work this time. Renee would figure it out before long, she'd have to, and that would be more likely than anything to wreck things, so... she'd just have to bite the bullet, wouldn't she? Do whatever she needed to: begging, groveling, bargaining... distracting her with flirting and sex... okay, so that last one wasn't a bad thing at all, but the point was she'd just have to do whatever it took to work this out.

She'd just have to hope for the best, that's all she could do...

"Fuck..." Lois muttered to herself. Sometimes, she really, really wished she could manage the monogamous thing like other women did. Lucy could. Why couldn't she? Why was she like this? She wasn't asking because she didn't like herself or anything, but some days... she just wanted to know... what the difference was, and what was the reason.

She sighed. "Eany, meany, miny, moe... two tigers, sharing just one toe..." She murmured to herself distractedly. It was total nonsense of course, and just a little insulting maybe, but someone had said something like that about her and Renee once as a joke when they'd been out at a club--she couldn't remember what the joke's original words had been exactly, but she'd never quite managed to get it completely out of her head...

Perry's door opened, Lois's head turned, and her and Heather's eyes caught. Heather smiled and Lois smiled back, her heart feeling all the lighter for it. Heather's smile always made her feel so much better... Lois got up to stand and leaned against her desk as Heather walked up to her. "So, hi." Lois told her as their hands touched a little.

"Hi also." Heather replied, moving closer and touching her hair just a little.

Lois felt her body respond in the usual ways and was content enough for now just to let it. "What did Perry want?" She asked softly.

"Oh, you know: I'm new. He wanted to check in, see what stories I had in the works, that sort of thing." Heather replied.

"See if you're earning your salary, you mean. So, are you?" Lois asked, almost managing to sound carefree.

"He seemed to think so." Heather replied.

"Well I think so too, if that counts for anything." Lois told her very sincerely, moving a little closer. And it was true: as far as she'd been able to tell so far, Heather was a really good reporter... she could be one of the best one day. Maybe one day soon, in fact.

Heather laughed softly. "Why wouldn't it count? You're the Daily Planet's star reporter... how may Pulitzers do you have by now? Not to mention that Nobel in literature last year for that book you wrote? I'd think your high opinion of me would count for a heck of a lot." She traced a finger on one of Lois's knuckles.

"Mhm, normally, sure... but in your case, don't you think I might be just a bit biased?" Lois asked, knowing that was true too. She never really could manage much objectivity when she was attracted to someone, let alone when she felt about them anywhere near what she felt for Heather.

"You're not trying to tell me I have you wrapped around my little finger or something like that, are you?" Heather teased.

"Ah, well, I wouldn't quite go that far." Lois pushed off the desk so they were standing dangerously close. She had no fear of anyone in the office seeing, she already had a firmly established reputation for being... well, a player and a shameless cheat, if you looked at it that way; which a lot of people might, she supposed. "I mean... from where I'm standing, if there's any finger wrapping going on with us, doesn't it seem a little more mutual than that?"

Heather swallowed and seemed lost for a moment in her eyes. "...Um, yeah... I see what you mean." She breathed softly.

Lois moved forward and captured her lips in a soft, ardent kiss. She lingered there, just a little longer than might be wise, and then their lips parted. "I'm glad it's not just me then..." She trailed the fingers of her hand up the back of Heather's palm, up to her elbow. "Have you had lunch yet?" She asked hopefully. She was just fully realizing it was about two in the afternoon and she hadn't yet.

"I um, no, no really haven't. Starving. That's me... I missed you last night." Heather told her. "Things, um, things went well with Renee?" She asked.

Lois smiled. Despite the situation (which was all her fault, she knew that), it just felt so good to be back with Renee again... Like everything in her life was in balance again... as tenuous as that balance might prove to be. She sighed a little and leaned back on the desk again. "They did." She answered. "We, um, I think we're getting married, in fact." She told her honestly.

"Oh... wow, well, that's great." Heather smiled just slightly, looking into her eyes meaningfully. "I can tell, you know... I can see it when I look into your eyes, how great that is for you. Like there was something missing before, but it's there now... It's beautiful."

Lois smiled and touched Heather's face. "-You're- beautiful, Heather... You're... you're amazing, in fact."

"Yeah..." Heather smiled. "I know. Not that I mind being reminded of course."

Lois laughed. Lack of false modesty: yet another quality she and Heather had in common. "I'll have to remember to say it more often then." She told her, caught in her eyes again.

"So... there's going to be an often then?" Heather asked, sounding kind of unsure of herself.

"Huh? Well, yeah, I mean..." Lois closed her eyes and sighed. "I want there to be anyway." She offered.

"Yeah, I know that. It's just... you've talked to her about us, right?" Heather asked. "I don't want to be the thing that breaks you up again, I couldn't stand it if I hurt you like that..."

"...I'm going to. I have to, I know I have to. I'm just dreading it, that's all." She answered honestly.

Heather sighed and smiled. "I get that--believe me, I get that. I just... I love you. I'm selfish enough to admit that I don't want to lose you, but, more than that, I know, I can see how much Renee means to you... I don't want to ruin that for you. You... you understand?"

Lois smiled a little sadly at that. "Don't we always understand each other?" She asked softly.

"...We seem to, yeah... it's kind of weird, and it's never come close to happening for me with anyone else before, but I like it..." She admitted with a soft smile so soft in could just about break your heart. "I like it a lot, actually..."

"Yeah, me too..." Lois admitted back with a matching, but slightly trepidations smile. "So, you were saying you hadn't lunch yet?" She asked hopefully.

"Nope. Just a late breakfast." Heather replied.

Knowing Heather, Lois could imagine why--it was probably for the same kind of reason she'd missed lunch too. An active love-life could easily infringe on any attempts at maintaining a regular dietary schedule, let alone what it could do to a woman's sleep cycle... of course, in Lois's considered opinion, the trade off was more than worth it. She just hoped the impact on her relationship with Renee wouldn't end up changing that assessment sometime soon.

She had no idea how she'd be able to handle it if it did...

(2b continued)


	7. Talking In The Dark

#7: TALKING IN THE DARK

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A little while later, after making a detour to Kelsey's, the deli across the street from where they worked, Lois and Heather were camped out in the basement of the Daily Planet building. They'd sat out a blanket on the floor and they were having a picnic under the one light they'd turned on.

No one really came down here anymore most days, except for her and the occasional date she brought with her. This was where they used to print the newspapers before print went the way of the dinosaurs and everything went web-based. The company kept it clean and polished looking through, because twice a month on Sundays they ran a tour. There was a quaint sort of museum of the paper's history on the top floor too, and she'd been asked to tell a few of her 'war stories' to the visitors from time to time too (which she secretly enjoyed doing, not that she was about to admit that to Parry mind you). 

She'd always liked it down here--the history and romance of it all, all the greats in whose footsteps she was treading. It was a great tradition, and one she believed in very much: that truth needed to be told, and the only way to protect our freedoms was to have an informed public who cared enough to fight to keep them... of course, the public itself all too often failed to live up to that ideal, even when they were given a fair chance, but she still believed it was worth trying. And, looking back on her own track record, she was proud to say that, many times, she'd succeeded in swaying people to do the right thing... many times, to varying degrees, she'd made the world a better place than it had been before.

In any case, Janitors came in down here on Mondays, but, other than that, it was deserted and private and impressive looking, and maybe just a little spooky with most of the lights off... in other words: not a bad place at all to take a woman you wanted to... have a good time with.

Right now though, they were just eating lunch and talking--which, come to think of it, was also a good time.

Lois took another bite of her salad and eyed her coconut tart with anticipation. "I don't know." Lois replied to Heather thoughtfully. "Keating likes to talk, but, when it comes down to it, I just don't think they're going to push it with the Sargons, even over the water rights issue. I don't see the momentum there at the U.N. for it to take."

"But water rights are crucial, especially in that part of the world. Reclamation tech is five years away at best from being viable over there. The Indian government's got to be pulling every string they have on this one." Heather countered. "If they push hard enough, with the E.U. at their back and already pushing for this, they've got enough allies in the assembly that the vote would go their way. The U.N. would have to act."

Lois shook her head. "In an ideal world, sure, the Indian government would do that, and sure, the votes might well be there to make a move of some kind on Khandaq, but the costs of war are high, and India would bear the brunt. That, and, street level, the Indian people just aren't putting enough pressure on their government over this for me to see the higher-ups risking their commerce flow by pursuing this, not when they can still pipe in the water they need from Russia--even with how much that's costing them. I mean, yeah, long-term, it's blatantly stupid. They buy enough water to keep the cities happy, but not to keep most of the agriculture going, the economics just don't add up, and the domino effect from that and everything else's going to be so much worse than the short term pain everyone's going to feel trying to dig the Sargons out of power. It's got to be done, everyone can feel it, but I just don't see them actually -doing- it until things get a lot worse than they are... I'm not saying it's a sure thing or anything, I could always be wrong on this one, but, in my experience, short term pain for long term gain is rarely an easy sell to make--not to most regular people, and not to most governments."

The Middle-East was the biggest question mark in global stability at the moment. The region used to be split up into a number of different countries, but, as things stood now, the lands that roughly used to be Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Jordon, Israel, Lebanon, Yemen, Qatar, Oman, and the U.A.E., were now simply Egypt, and under the rule of Adrianna Tomaz, better known as Isis. What roughly used to be Iraq, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tadschikistan, Afghanistan, the majority of Pakistan, and the parts of Kazakhstan that bordered the Caspian sea were now the kingdom of Khandaq, and under the decidedly harsh rule of the Sargons: John Sargent and his daughter Jaimini, along with their chief advisor, Wotan. The two massive countries had been one at one point. Then, Isis and Black Adam had been the very definition of a power couple. At some point, the honeymoon had ended and Adrianna had divorced her husband and the result had been a war that had left the map as it was now. 

That tense peace had lasted years and years, and U.N. and the rest of the world had been happy enough to leave things as they were. Isis turned out to be a very benevolent and capable world leader, while Adam, though a harsh and insular ruler, nevertheless ran his country like a well-oiled machine and was, at the least, reasonable and sensible in his dealings with other nations. Adam had remarried though, to Jaimini Sargent, his chief advisor's daughter. And last year sometime, Adam had disappeared and his new wife had inherited the throne, with her father and Woton's backing. Rumors of a coupe were rampant of course, but that's all the were: rumors, with not a shred of evidence. No one knew what had happened to Black Adam, the man who'd once held the unofficial title of the world's most dangerous man, but most soon came to regret his absence. By comparison, Adam's rule had been a benign one. Jaimini and her regime had a mind to expand through conquest. Relations with India were strained, but, so far, Jaimini hadn't turned her eye in their direction. Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Georgia, on the other hand, were all currently embattled nations. Turkey, a member of the European Union, was fighting back hard, with strong backing from the E.U.--though not, as of yet, from the U.N. or the world at large. The rest of the world all remembered with vivid clarity what had happened the last time the U.N. had gotten involved with a war in that part of the world, and were understandably hesitant to repeat past mistakes... still, all concerned were, at the least, made uncomfortable by the increased human rights violations rumored to be taking place within Khandaq's borders. It was a situation that was only growing more dangerous, day by day. Egypt and it's queen were not idle in this either. They were backing Turkey and helping Georgia and Azerbaijan as well. Egypt and Khandaq had yet to face each other directly in all of this, but, the way things were going, it seemed like only a matter of time... Isis was scheduled to address the world at large in a press conference in four days time, actually. Lois wanted to be there for that, but hadn't yet convinced Parry to send her. The travel budget had been cut, despite her vehement protests, and they had a middle east correspondent already permanently stationed in Egypt after all, but that wasn't stopping Lois from wanting it badly...

Heather sighed. "I hate politics sometimes, you know?"

"Only idiots like politics. That's why the people in politics are mostly idiots, but with a few saints mixed in to keep things interesting." Lois replied off-handedly. "Still... you have to admit, with the history in all of this, Isis's speech coming up, and Black Adam still a question mark, it's kind of understandable they're skittish."

"That's true. What do you think happened there, by the way? With Black Adam? I've never asked you." Heather asked, totally caught up in their conversation in the way Lois knew only a fellow reporter probably ever would.

Lois smiled. "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours?" She offered. Black Adam theories were a dime a dozen these days, and she was kind of curious where Heather landed on the spectrum.

"Deal. My gut? Jaimini Sargent honey-trapped him, stabbed him in the back when she and her father had the backing they need, and then promptly buried him in an unmarked grave. It's the obvious answer, I know, but none of the other theories make as much sense to me." Heather replied. "Now you?"

"Mm, well, actually, that's about what I was going to say too..." Another in a long and constantly growing list of things she and Heather agreed on. "But, just so I have a different answer: For sheer dramatic appeal, I kind of like the 'walk-out' theory best. It's like I said, only idiots really -like- politics. I mean, I can totally see it: His second marriage is going badly, his first wife is showing him up on the world stage to a frankly embarrassing degree, the resistance movement on his home soil's gaining ground week after week... it had to be getting to the point where he knew he'd have to crack down hard on them to keep his nation in hand, and, to all reports, he'd been gentling on his policies in the months leading up to his disappearance. Maybe he just didn't have the heart for it anymore? Maybe he just gave up, put on regular-people clothes, blended into the crowd, and walked away?"

"Mm-mm, sorry, that doesn't track for me. If he really was gentling like that, wouldn't he have worked something out with Isis or the U.N. before he left? He was married to the woman. He had to know, or at least suspect, what she and her father would do once he left, right?" Heather questioned.

"Yeah, but did he really have to know that?" Lois questioned. "...I don't know, if it was me, unless she came right out and told me, I doubt I would've ever thought someone I loved would be capable of something like that. It might not be true for some people, but if he was anything like me this way, it could have been true for him too. Love makes everything different..."

Heather looked at her as if she were the most fascinating person she'd ever met, and that was so flattering Lois's breath caught in her throat a little and she felt like her heart had maybe skipped a beat or two. "...but, if that were true, wouldn't he have come back by now?" Heather asked.

Lois shook her head side to side. "You forget how stubborn and prideful some people can be. I mean, it's true 'stubborn and prideful' doesn't mean exactly the same thing for a man as it does a woman a lot of the time, and, for whatever reason, I'm no expert at all on the male of the species... still, I've got no small level of personal experience with being stubborn and prideful, and I've spent a lot of time watching how people act on the world stage, Black Adam among them, and, man or woman, not that I would make the same choice of course, but I can see how he might be too shamed to go back and try to fix things, even with how bad they're getting... not to mention that if he did go back, he might have to fight his wife to get her to stop what she's doing or give up power... Putting myself in that situation? If Renee or... or you, or..." She sighed. "Even if one of you somehow, some way, turned into a tyrant... I'm just not sure I could bring myself to physically hurt you, even with the stakes that high... even if I'm maybe not that picky when it comes to emotional damage apparently..." She trailed off.

"Hey, come on..." Heather told her, touching her cheek and then cradling her chin in her palm. "When two people are in love, hurting each other emotionally always happens sooner or later--the only way to avoid that's to not fall in love at all. And, I think we can agree, that's much worse as options go, right?"

Lois smiled, bemused. "Yeah, I know, you're right. Thanks... thanks for saying it though." She regarded her lover thoughtfully. "Have I hurt you very much that way, Heather?" She asked, hoping the answer wasn't 'yes'.

Heather shook her head. "I... I don't think you've hurt me that way at all yet. Well, unless you count that I've felt hurt on your behalf... I could tell how much you were hurting because you weren't with Renee anymore, and that hurt me because I... it was so easy to fall in love with you, you know? It probably happened the day we met in fact, though I think it took me a few days to really realize it..." She smiled. "I'm sure you are going to hurt me that way at some point though, and... I'm sure I'll hurt you that way too... but, it's just so worth it though, isn't it?" Heather asked.

Lois smiled softly. "Yeah... yeah, it really is." She told her back softly, caught in Heather's eyes, her thoughts rapidly all burning away towards desire. She looked down at her still uneaten coconut tart and thought that eating it could wait. She looked up again up and she could see it in Heather's eyes that she was feeling the same things as she was. It was just like this with them--they didn't really need to talk about most things to know things about each other.

She was just getting up, intent on love, when Heather's phone rang. Lois blinked, so did Heather. It took Heather another ring to shake her head and another two rings to get to her phone. Lois sat back on her heels, sighed, shook her head a little, and smiled. She was in so much trouble...

She saw Heather check the name on the phone's display and tap the accept button. "Hey chief." Heather greeted their editor-in-chief.

"Get down to the Athens Global building, Kelley. Ogawa's already there." Perry White's voice came over the phone.

"Right, on my way." Heather replied, looking over at Lois with a question mark in her eyes.

"And Kelley? Be careful out there, it's looking like it might be the start of a meta conflict." Perry told her.

"...Right." Heather replied soberly. "Will do, chief." She ended the call.

"First one?" Lois asked, concerned.

"Yeah--does it show?" She asked.

"Only a little. Want me to come with?" Lois offered. "...I promise I won't steal your byline?" She added to lighten things up a little. She'd never actually steal Heather's story from her... maybe someone else's story, if she thought they were making a mess of it, but not Heather's. No way in hell.

Heather smiled. "Would you?" She asked.

"I'm there." Lois replied with surety as she gathered her things.

"What about the blanket and stuff?" Heather asked as she did likewise.

"We can leave it." Lois replied, snatching up her tart and Heather's chocolate one, also uneaten, and following along with Heather back towards the elevator. She handed Heather her tart and Heather smiled to her.

"Thanks." She told her just a little shyly as they got in the empty elevator.

The elevator door closed and Lois backed Heather up against one of the walls and kissed her soundly and thoroughly until the elevator dinged that they'd arrived at the lobby, then she backed away and smiled, straightening her clothes and hair a little. "Had to do that, to hold me over."

"No, yeah, hold over. I'm right there with you." Heather replied, moving in and kissing her back just briefly. "Come on." She told her softly, taking her by the hand.

Lois sighed a little dreamily and followed right alongside her lover/colleague/roommate, both of them snacking on their tarts as they went. The elevator they'd used was off to the side and down a short hallway. No one had seen them come up, or seen Heather kissing her--not that Lois would have minded at all if they had.

They made their way double-time across the lobby towards the small staff parking garage that was on the other side of the lobby. 

A minute and a half later, Heather had mounted her motor bike and Lois was getting on behind her, putting on a helmet. Popping the last of her dessert into her mouth as she did, Lois snuggled up nice and close behind her, holding on tight as Heather started the bike and proceeded to speed out onto the road.

Mostly, the city was all mass transit now, with monorails and the like the norm. You needed a special license to have an independent automobile. Usually, that meant city workers, officials, police, medical personnel, emergency services, delivery or shipping services, and, of course, press. A few other private citizens had them if they could demonstrate reasonable need, or if they paid an exorbitant fee. All of which meant that there wasn't much traffic, even at peak times. This wasn't a peek time, so they sailed along at high speeds and where there in only a few minutes.

When they arrived, an explosion shook the ground a little and one of the windows blew out, showering glass on the street. Some police were already on-scene, cordoning off the area, and the people from inside the building were, of course, trying to get out of the building as quick as they could. 

"Heather--Heather, hey!" Miko Ogawa called, heading over towards them.

Heather smiled and waved to her videographer. "Hey Miko." Heather greeted as she and Lois went to meet her halfway. "What's been going on? We miss anything?" She asked.

"Not much. That was the second ground-shaker though. Hey Lois, what are you doing here?" Miko asked curiously.

"Moral support. We were just finishing lunch when the call came in." Heather replied, making Lois smile.

"Call me the cheering section." Lois added.

"Um, gotcha." Miko went along easily.

"Yeah, um, anyway, lets go find some people to interview." Heather told her, heading towards the crowds of people the police were directing to safe zones. Officers were asking some questions of the people in the crowd too it looked like, but there were more than enough of them to go around for sure.

Lois followed along and kept her eyes on the building.

A couple minutes later, Lois was hanging back while Heather and Miko did their interviews, and then she saw and felt the glass windows of the lobby blow out from the inside. It looked like there was a lightning storm in there!

A few seconds later, there was another blast and then two people crashed out into the courtyard. One was... "...Cris?" Lois spoke to herself in startled surprise. He looked like Crispus Allen, Renee's partner! But, of course, it couldn't be him. The way his body was moving like liquid to avoid the woman who was going at him and then try to retaliate, it was obviously a meta with his face. The woman, she was just recognizing her as Camilla Kazantkakis, the foster daughter of Celia Kazantkakis, the Athens Global CEO. According to the rumors, Camilla was supposed to be a meta of some kind. Looking at her now, it was pretty damn obvious the rumors were true. 

Lois looked over and saw Miko and Heather taking cover, her and Heather's eyes caught and Lois saw definite fear there as she moved to join them. Miko got to a good position for their video feed. "Live streaming... now." Miko told Heather.

Heather started to talk, using her phone as the receiver as the fight went on. Lois held her hand and watched on, her thoughts more on Renee and wondering if she were here somewhere. She had to be, right? With that meta looking the way he was, she and Cris had to at least be involved somehow... She got a cold pit of fear in her stomach at the thought that maybe Renee was hurt, or dead, or needed help...

She watched on though, and before long she saw her: Renee, dashing out of the building, sidearm in hand, her attention on the two combatants. Lois let out a shaky sigh of relief. Still... it wasn't over yet, was it?

(2b continued)


	8. Behind His Eyes

#8: BEHIND HIS EYES

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

\--- RENEE ---

[more than an hour earlier]

"Married..." Crispus spoke.

"Married." Renee answered as they walked back to their car from the crime scene they'd just come from.

"...You and Lois Lane--seriously?" He asked.

Renee laughed just a little bit. "Yeah, me and Lois Lane--seriously." She replied, finding the whole thing just a little but funny... not that she would ever explicitly say so to her partner of course... of course, the part where she'd just let that laugh slip by her might have clued him in. He was a detective in major crimes after all, just like she was, so, theoretically, he would be better than most people at picking up on subtle indicators like that.

Cris sighed. "Hope you know what you're getting into."

"By now, don't you think I would?" Renee asked. No judgment--she knew her track record with Lois. Skepticism was wholly justified, and she knew that.

"In theory, I guess." Cris replied. "But, hey... seriously, I hope it works out for you this time. You really deserve that, you know?"

Renee smiled. "Thanks." She told him as they got back to their car. "So, Kazantaks... should we call first?" She asked.

Cris was silent a beat as they both got in the car. "Yeah, probably." He admitted.

"You do it, I'm driving." Renee told him.

"Right." He sighed. They took turns driving: one day on, done day off. Today was Renee's day on.

Cris looked up the number on his phone as Renee started the car. The crime scene they'd just come from was from a property owned by Celia Kazantaks, one of the richest people in the city, and, if you believed the so-far unproven allegations, one of the most dangerous. She was long suspected of being a crime kingpin named Athena--the money and the brains behind a criminal organization called The Network. On both the legitimate and illegitimate sides of things, her main focus seemed to be real-estate, but her company, Athens Global, had divisions in all sorts of fields, and Network's goals remained unknown--though, of course, there were a good number of theories floating around the law-enforcement community. Still, that's all they were: theories. No one really -knew- what the woman was after. It could just be money and power for it's own sake of course. If asked though, Renee would bet there -was- something more she was working towards. Just, you know, damned if she knew what it was.

Cris's call was put through and she listened to him describe what they'd found and ask for an audience with Kazantaks.

What they'd found was a trashed town house (one of Kazantaks's personal residences), the dead bodies of several security personal and a few household staff, and no sign of the house's owner at all. All signs pointed to an unsuccessful attempt on the woman's life. Of course, if you believed the rumors, Kazantaks (or 'Athena'), was supposed to employ a number of meta-humans--a teleporter included among them. A handy resource to have, if you had the type of enemies a woman like Athena no doubt accrued. If it was true about the teleporter, then what had probably happened was that someone had tried to kill her and the teleporter had just whisked her away to safety.

That meant that the assassin was probably still out there, and could make another attempt. If the assassin had been killed by Athena's defenders, there would have been less of a reason to flee and more of a chance she and Cris would have had lawyers waiting for them when they'd arrived. Regardless though, and regardless of the fact that, of all the duties her job came with, protecting a suspected crime kingpin was probably one of the least appealing, they still had fourteen new murders to solve out of it, and who knew how many more bodies would pile up if they didn't put a stop to it. She seriously doubted the household cook and the cleaning lady, at least, were guilty of much besides bad taste or bad luck in their choice of employer. She preferred to think she was working this case more to solve their murders, rather than for any other reason. Thinking about it that way at least stopped her stomach from turning quite so much, if nothing else.

In the seat next to her, Cris ended the call. "She's at her company's headquarters and she's agreed to see us."

"Lucky us... hey, you know, we might want to call the S.C.D., let them know this could... escalate on us." Renee offered.

"...Yeah. I'll do that." Cris agreed soberly. The Special Crimes Division was the city's answer to meta-human threats. True, they had people like Kara-Ze, the famous Power Woman from another planet who'd showed up last year, to help in those situations, but no one in city government wanted to trust private citizens, granted special authorities by the city or not, to always be there and always do the right thing when things got bad.

About twenty minutes later, they arrived at the Athens Global building, in the heart of Hypersector, one of the city's most up-scale business districts.

She and Cris left their car parked near the front entrance and went in. Renee secretly loved being able to drive a car like she could because she was a cop... another thing she had in common with Lois, she supposed. Lois loved that motor bike of hers as much as a person could love something that wasn't sentient.

Inside, the reception desk was expecting them and they were guided up to their appointment by a pair of bland looking private security types. She and Cris didn't say much on the way up, besides the odd comment here and there to pass the time. Renee found her own thoughts drifting to Lois again and the idea of marrying her and she couldn't help the smile that kept showing up on her lips when she wasn't paying attention. Was it really going to happen? 

...When they'd started together, her and Lois, she'd thought about it--thought Lois might be the one she'd have a happily ever after with. Things... well, they really hadn't turned out that way, had they? They argued and they were competitive and Lois couldn't seem to stay faithful to save her life, but... Renee had never quite been able to shake her. Whenever she'd tried... even with Kate... Lois had just been... too tempting, too under her skin, too... too a lot of things, really... The point was, she loved her in a kind of all-consuming way that, by this point, she was almost sure she'd never feel for anyone else. She hadn't thought, seriously thought, about a happily ever after for she didn't know how long. After what had happened with Kate, she supposed... she'd just given up on it somehow. Resigned herself to taking Lois on her terms and making that be enough, because there just didn't seem to be anything else she could do. But now, here they were...

Totally nuts, right? But... maybe those two months had been worth it? Maybe... maybe Lois had just needed a wake up call like that? It... it had been agony for her, saying no all those times Lois had tried to get back together with her. She'd lain up more than one night just thinking, her mind going non-stop. She'd gone out with other women, but it hadn't helped... she'd mostly just tried to keep focused on her job. But Lois had finally cracked and let her win and they were back together... it had felt good to win, if for no other reason than it showed how much Lois cared that she was willing to not only intentionally lose an argument but also give it another try with Louisa. She knew how much that was asking of Lois, and had to admit Lois had good cause for not wanting anything more to do with Renee's mom, so it meant a lot Lois was willing to try again. Still, no matter how good that had felt, the idea of marrying her, of having her for her wife... that felt better. So much fucking better she could hardly believe it. And damned if she wasn't going to make it work this time... no matter what she had to do. She had to... both because she didn't think she had another two months apart in her, and because her mom was essentially right, as much as she didn't like to think about it. Oh, she didn't seriously think Lois had 'wrecked her' for other relationships... but the end result was the same anyway: Lois was the one she loved, and there was no changing it, maybe not ever.

She sighed as the elevator stopped on the top floor and they were shown out.

Was she kidding herself? She had to wonder... maybe she was, but she'd just have to find that out for herself, wouldn't she...?

"Head in the game, partner." Cris told her.

She shook her head and focused. "Right." She agreed, walking with him into Celia Kazantaks's large, palatial office. Renee looked around... there were four other people in the office besides the CEO they were here to see. She hadn't dealt with Network cases all too often, but she'd read up on Kazantaks and her known associates like she had on all the other major players in town, so Renee recognized all four of them on sight:

The first was Camilla Kazantaks, Celia's adopted daughter--she was rumored to be... extremely dangerous (in what way wasn't clear, but she was suspected of being a meta of some kind). The second was Terence Lincoln, her right hand man, and, odds were, the teleporter (though they had no solid intel on that, or much of Lincoln's background for that matter). Next was Mallory Spencer, more infamously known as Cathode. She was a definite meta--she had the ability to channel and control electrical energy (in a city, that made her someone you very much did not want to take lightly). Spencer had a record, but she'd done her time and was, at least in so far as anyone could prove in a court of law, legitimate now. The last of them was Markham Patel--another suspected meta, but no idea what his power set was, or what his past was. There was a paper trail for him back in his native India, but the consensus was that it was fake.

Given what she knew, it seemed likely that she was now in a room with four meta-humans, plus the woman employing them who was known for her ruthlessness. In other words: she and Cris were in a very vulnerable position... one, given the choice, she'd prefer to get herself out of at the soonest opportunity. Still, she had a job to do and all.

And it did tell her one thing at least: Celia Kazantaks wasn't taking chances--she was scared--which meant they were probably right about her being a target. "Detectives Montoya and Allen, I assume? Come in, please." Celia greeted them in a poised and polite manner, dismissing their two escorts with a wave of her hand. Renee could easily tell this was a woman who was used to giving as little as possible away.

They walked into the room and Renee suddenly wished she had a few of the S.C.D.'s finest at her back for this. Though, in a room this small, an all-out meta conflict would probably kill her anyway, she supposed...

It seriously scared her sometimes, doing this job: knowing that, at any time, you might find yourself up against someone with a meta power or some advanced tech that made them the next best thing and that you'd be pretty much at their mercy without a chance of putting up any sort of effective resistance at all.

"I'll get right to the point." Renee spoke as they came up to Kazantaks's desk. "What do you know about what went on an hour ago at your Lakebay residence? I take it from the increased... security presence in this room, that you were the target and the threat is ongoing?"

"...Correct, Detective Montoya. A scrambling device of some sort was used at the house, as you may have been made aware of, so my mentoring devices were rendered inoperable prior to the attack." Kazantaks answered.

"Were you there?" Renee asked. "Did you witness the attack? Do you know who we're after?"

"Mm. No, I was not there. I was supposed to be, but I was detained here on a business matter unexpectedly... My daughter, however, was at the residence. My security personnel got her out and brought her here, where she's safe. From her description and my own research into the matter, I believe the man responsible was Basil Karlo, colloquially known, as I understand it, as Clayface." Kazantaks supplied.

"Clayface..." Renee repeated, shaking her head. "Any idea who's paying him?"

"At a guess? I would say Intergang." Kazantaks replied.

Renee sucked in a breath. It just kept getting better and better, didn't it? "Why?"

"Why does a criminal organization do anything, detective Montoya? Because, one way or another, I am in their way and they wish it otherwise." Kazantaks told.

"Smart lady." Cris spoke from beside her, and, in the blink of an eye, a large spike plunged into Celia Kazantaks's chest.

Renee spun, following the line of the spike and seeing that it was Cris's arm. No, not Cris--Basil Karlo. She met his eyes and his face wavered into an inhuman grin. "Quite the performance I gave, wasn't it... partner?" He asked.

An electrical discharge shot past her and impacted Karlo then, knocking Renee back on her ass. She reached for her weapon, but it was already a frenzy. Camilla Kazantaks charged Karlo and the impact sent a shockwave through the air, shaking the room. Karlo was knocked well out of the room--Camilla Kazantaks, Mallory Spencer, and Markham Patel in hot pursuit. Renee got to her feet, feeling a little shaky. She grit her teeth and looked around--neither Celia Kazantaks nor Terence Lincoln were anywhere to be seen. She was alone in the room.

The building shook and there was an explosion. Renee got out her phone and punched speed dial for dispatch. "This is Montoya at the Athens building--Code M-4. I need S.C.D. on the scene--now!" She exclaimed. The dispatcher confirmed for her. "Clayface is on scene, battling three other meta-humans: Camilla Kazantaks, Mallory Spencer, and Markham Patel. We'll need a proportional response." She told him, ending the call and running out of the office.

How had he done it? She wondered. Karlo had acted exactly--down to the letter--like Cris Allen. There had been nothing to give him away, she was damn sure of it. Not even something small that she would have written off only to see now in hindsight that she should have paid more attention to. No matter how good an actor he was, or how good his intel, that flat-out should not have been possible. Not to say that she couldn't have been fooled, but he just shouldn't have been able to be that perfect a copy. It had to be some kind of tech or magic or something.

The question was: did Karlo need Cris alive for it to work? She was really hoping the answer was yes.

The floor she was on looked like a disaster area. Bystanders were hurt, dead, or in hiding. There'd be more like them if this didn't get stopped. She headed for the staircase and called dispatch again, calling in medics. She was torn between staying and seeing what she could do for the wounded and going in pursuit of Karlo and the others. She wasn't sure how much help she could be in either situation, but she made the call and went for the stairs, probably being completely stupid.

But if there was a chance she could help end this somehow and stop more people getting hurt, she had to try. It was her fucking job, after all, wasn't it? Meta-humans or not.

On the way down, the building shook twice and there was the sound of another explosion. When she finally got to the lobby, she saw more disaster area. She spotted Markham laid out on the ground, unconscious or dead, and Spencer wounded in the leg and shoulder, dazed and leaking electricity. The woman was barely conscious, and sending random sparks and electrical strikes out. It was obvious she had little if any control.

Renee unclipped the ammunition from her sidearm and loaded a clip of tranques instead, then took aim and fired. Spencer wavered and then dropped, her electrical discharge dissipating as she fell.

Renee breathed a sigh of relief and switched clips again, heading out to the building's front courtyard where basil Karlo and Camilla Kazantkakis were in a pitched battle still. Karlo, still looking like Cris, was slicing the air with metallic scythes, but they passed right though Kazantkakis, having no affect. Kazantkakis kept hitting Karlo, her blows like jackhammers, but Karlo wouldn't go down and kept trying to get away. She was too fast though, and wasn't letting him have a moment's peace.

Renee considered her options. Her gun probably wouldn't help... she had a couple stun grenade sticks on her, but who knew if they would help matters or make them worse...?

"Get clear!" She heard a voice call from above. She recognized it and sprinted away, diving for cover. A beam of silver blue energy impacted both Karlo and Kazantkakis from above, a shockwave from the impact shaking the air like a huge gust.

When the blast cleared, Renee peeked up from behind the rocks she was behind (part of the landscaping, thankfully) and saw Prysm in the sky and her partner, Gilotina, landing on the ground between her and a still standing and looking unharmed Camilla Kazantkakis. Basil Karlo looked down for the count though, thankfully.

"Stand down or face me, woman!" Gilotina called out for Kazantkakis's surrender.

Kazantkakis just smiled and put her hands up. "I'm standing down, not resisting." She called back. S.C.D. support units were arriving and heavy artillery was being leveled at the surrendering Camilla Kazantkakis. 

Gilotina advanced. "You are under arrest." She told her.

"I was acting in defense of my mother. This man tried to kill her." Kazantkakis replied.

"She's telling the truth, I'm afraid." Renee spoke up, coming out of hiding and holding up her badge. Prysm landed in front of her. "Hi, Renee." She greeted, smiling.

"Hi Aubrey." Renee replied, smiling back and accepting a hug from her.

Tina was staring at Camilla Kazantkakis and looking put out. "Fine." She spoke, turning away and marching over to them. "This was the first time in weeks there's someone worth fighting, and it's over before I can even take part..." She muttered.

Aubrey laughed. "Sorry, Ti."

"We can spar together sometime, if that helps..." Camilla Kazantkakis called out in a teasing voice from behind her.

Tina's eyes sparked, she turned. "You're on!" She called out. "I'm going to go get her phone number." She told Aubrey, clearly excited at the prospect.

"Why don't -you- spar with her sometime?" Renee asked Aubrey playfully.

"Uh-uh, no way. She'd hurt me... also, when she doesn't have anyone to fight, she 's um, well... she needs other, um, outlets... more." Aubrey trailed off, looking embarrassed.

"Oh, well that makes perfect sense then." Renee replied with a smile, sighing. "Look, I'd love to catch up more, but I gotta go. Cris is missing, Clayface was impersonating him... I just... I hope he's still..."

Aubrey moved and swept her up in her arms. "Tell me where to take you--um, I'm a lot faster than a car, you know?"

"Right." Renee agreed, shaking her head a little, but wrapping her arms around her friend's shoulders none the less. "The Kazantaks residence, Lakebay boulevard."

"I know where that's at. My friend Toni lives close to there." Aubrey answered.

"Let's go then." Renee replied sensibly.

"I'll come too." Tina called, just returning from getting Camilla Kazantaks's phone number.

"Uh-uh. No go, kid." A voice interrupted. "We need you here."

They turned to see Dan Turpin, second in command of the S.C.D., marching over to them. "Why? The battle is done with." Tina asked reasonably.

Renee's eyes caught on someone's over Turpin's shoulder behind the police cordon and she smiled and waved, a little embarrassed actually at the current position she was in. Lois smiled and waved back. It was too bad there wasn't time to go to her and talk or touch, even for a moment. Right now, she felt like she could really use that.

"There are still metas on the scene," Turpin was saying in reply to Tina. "and we need you here to make sure they stay on good behavior until this mess gets sorted out."

Tina made a disgusted noise, but no other reply. Renee knew how she chafed at protocol sometimes.

"Sorry kid." Turpin told her.

"I wish you world stop calling me that, human. I am two-thousand, seven-hundred, thirty-eight point six two years old. Young for my kind perhaps, but still old enough to be your far, far removed ancestor." Tina replied, annoyed.

"Yeah, whatever kid. Tell it to someone who cares." Turpin remarked.

"Stay strong, Ti. I love you?" Aubrey told her.

Tina went over and kissed her just briefly on the lips. "I love you too..." Tina spoke almost shyly. "Enjoy the hunt, and tell me of your sojourn upon your return." She caressed Aubrey's hair and looked at her longingly.

"I will." Aubrey told her almost reverently, turning and flying them off.

She surrounded them with an energy field, so Renee didn't even feel the g-forces as they accelerated. "You two always seem so stable. I'm kind of jealous..." Renee spoke absently as they flew.

"...Are things still going that badly with you and Lois?" Aubrey asked gently.

"No... things are great, I guess... We're getting married." Renee replied, thinking of the look in Lois's eyes she'd seen just now from across the way and how jealous she'd been of Audrey for being able to kiss Tina goodbye.

"But, that's amazing news... why don't you sound like it is?" Aubrey asked as they landed at the Kazantaks residence. The police still had the scene cordoned off, but they landed on the front step and weren't asked to stop. Everyone on the department knew who Aubrey and Tina were, after all.

"I guess... I guess I just can't quite believe it's going to actually happen. That's all." Renee admitted as Aubrey set her down.

Aubrey sighed. "Have tea with me later?" She asked.

"Alright." Renee agreed easily. Aubrey was raised in a old-world holographic simulation by aliens. She'd had a boyfriend, wore dresses, hosted tea parties, the whole nine yards. And, while she'd obviously acclimated to the modern world in certain ways, she still clung to some of the ways of behaving she was raised with. It was kind of charming, actually. And she was really easy to talk with somehow. Aubrey was her best friend on the force, actually, besides Cris (and she wasn't the type that made friends too easily somehow, though she wished she could change that about herself). Secretly, she'd really started to like the formal tea thing actually, though she'd probably never admit that to anyone besides Lois.

"Detective!" One of the uniformed officers on scene called, he and his partner heading their way. "What's going on?"

"Jackson, good. Get everyone together, we need to search this place top to bottom." Renee ordered.

"Yes, sir." Jackson went off and started calling the troops together.

"What are we looking for?" His partner, Gonzalez, asked.

"Renee, wait. I've got him. He's on the third floor, on the east side. In a closet." Aubrey interrupted. "I can see his heat signature." She explained.

"Oh, right. Cancel that Gonzalez, and call for medics, just in case." Renee told the officer, turning and rushing into the house, Aubrey picking her up in her arms as she went and flying them through the huge house in no time.

"Cop could get used to having you around, you know that?" Renee spoke, a little in awe, as Aubrey sat her down on her feet again.

"I'm just doing my job, and helping out a friend." Aubrey told her a little shyly.

Renee went forward and opened the closet, her heart beating fast in her chest at the thought of what she'd find... And there he was, laying crumpled there, dead to the world... but thankfully not actually dead. She checked his pulse just to reassure herself and breathed a sigh of relief.

"What's that on his head, do you think?" Aubrey asked, curious, but also a little grossed out.

"My guess? ...Celia Kazantaks was right, and this is Intergang tech." Renee spoke.

"Well, um, aren't you going to take it off of him?" Aubrey asked.

"No... better wait and have someone who knows what they're doing more than I do look at it first. I mean... for all I know, it's rigged to kill him when it's taken off... Intergang doesn't mess around." Renee told her soberly.

"...Tina hates them, you know? Intergang? She says they're more dangerous than people give them credit for..." Aubrey told her.

"And why does she think that?" Renee asked.

"She won't tell me. She says it's just a feeling." Aubrey answered.

"Yeah, well... I think I need to have a nice long talk with that girlfriend of yours, and soon." Renee spoke her thoughts aloud.

"...I can carry him downstairs for you if you want?" Aubrey asked, trying, as she usually did, to be helpful.

"...Yeah. Yeah, go ahead. Thanks Aubrey." Renee replied, getting up and giving way.

"Of course." Aubrey replied, extending a hand and forming an energy cocoon around Cris's body, levitating him up into the air and into her arms. She took his weight easily.

"Just how strong are you, anyway?" Renee asked, curious. She just realized she'd never asked her that before. You'd think if she was as strong as she seemed in a fight sometimes, or at times like this, it would show more.

"It depends on how strong I want to be, I guess." Aubrey replied. "Tina showed me how to do it not long after we met. She says we're, um, a lot alike in some ways. I don't really understand it, but... when I'm with her, it feels that way to me, you know? Like... we're the same somehow. Even though we're from different worlds and everything... It just feels... I don't know... I never feel that way with anyone else, at least. Just her..."

"...Must be nice..." Renee replied absently as she followed Aubrey out of the room, by foot this time.

"It is, yeah." Aubrey replied. "It's not that way for you with Lois?" She asked as they left the room.

"No... it, uh, it kind of is, actually... that's... that's kind of been the problem." She admitted quietly.

"Why a problem?" Aubrey asked.

Renee sighed. "We were going to talk about that over tea, remember?" She asked, not really wanting to talk about it right now. She was too worried about Cris right now to really think about much else, even Lois... that, and she wasn't sure she actually knew what she'd say about it anyway.

"I remember." Aubrey answered. "And I'm holding you to it."

"...You do that." She smiled a little to herself.

"...The ambulance is here. I'm going to fly him the rest of the way, okay? Meet you down there?" Aubrey asked.

"Yeah, you go..." Renee replied, and Aubrey went and she was alone.

She took out her phone to call Cris's wife. Dore deserved to know what had happened. Before she could look up the number though, her phone rang. She checked and saw it was Turpin. She accepted the call. "Montoya here."

"Montoya, hey. You're at the Kazantaks house? Allen okay?" He asked.

"He's not dead, but I don't know much else. There was this thing on his head, some kind of tech I've never seen before. I was afraid to take it off in case it's rigged or something... I'm guessing it's Intergang gear. Guessing that's how Karlo pulled off such a masterful performance... Aubrey's getting him to the paramedics. I imagine they'll be taking him over to Starr..." Renee explained.

"Hell... Take some leave if you want, I'll clear it with your captain." Turpin offered.

"Thanks Dan..." Renee answered. "I might just do that... You had another reason for calling me though, didn't you?" She questioned.

"Yeah, caught me there. It's Karlo." Turpin answered.

"Yeah, what about him?" Renee asked, considering in her head whether she should take up Dan on his offer.

"That body at the scene? Turns out it was hollow. Kid said she saw a bird flying out of that mess when she was coming in. Surveillance corroborates her. Guy pulled a fast one on us, Renee... he's still out there." Turpin told her.

"...I'm on my way over." Renee told him, thoughts of taking that leave now out the window.

"Look, all due respect, if you're not seeing clearly on this, I don't need you." Turpin told her.

"I'm clear. I'm damn clear." Montoya told him.

"...Alright then." Dan accepted her answer.

Renee ended the call and picked up her pace. Damn if she was going to let that bastard get away with what he'd done. He was going down. And... just maybe, he'd know how to help Cris too, if it came to that.

(2b continued)


	9. There Are Always Choices

#9: THERE ARE ALWAYS CHOICES

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

\--- LOIS ---

"What's going on?" Lois asked Dan Turpin softly.

Dan turned to look at her. "Look, it's ongoing. You know I can't--"

"I'm not asking as a reporter Dan, I don't give a fuck about that right now." She'd been talking with him about what had just happened. She and Dan were old, well, maybe not friends, but they got along and Dan knew he could trust her to keep quiet about something if he asked her to. And she'd just overheard him talking with Renee, about Cris being hurt. "Just... tell me it's not what it sounded like. Tell me you're not letting her go after Clayface. She's not S.C.D. Dan--she's not trained for it and you damn well know it." She accused, anger and fear screaming in her head so much it was hard for her to keep a lid on it as much as she was.

"As a matter of fact, yeah, that's exactly what I'm letting her do." Dan told her. "You think you can talk her out of it? Be my guest, go ahead and try."

"You are so full of shit..." She seethed, glaring at him a long moment. She very rarely had ever had cause in her life to actually hit anyone--certainly not a police officer or someone she considered something like a friend--but she really, really wanted to break that streak right about now. "You better -pray- she doesn't get hurt, Dan. I swear..." She trailed off and turned to go.

"Lane..." Dan moved to put his hand on his shoulder to stop her.

"Save it!" She shrugged off the attempt and marched away.

"Lois?" Heather asked, heading over to her as she cleared the group of police. 

Lois met her eyes. "I don't want to talk right now, okay?" Lois told her. "I just need a few minutes alone."

"I... yeah, okay." Heather replied softly.

"...Thanks." She told her softly, walking by her and heading away from the crowd.

Dan was right that Renee wouldn't listen to her about this, but Lois knew--knew for pretty close to a fact--that Renee would have followed orders if he'd told her she wasn't on the case. She knew it, Dan knew it, and Lois knew one other thing: She'd kill him if Renee got hurt because if this, she just would... she'd never seriously wanted to kill anyone before, but at this moment she actually was pretty damn close to that...

She braced herself against a wall with her arms and tried to think this through.

It just... it wasn't right. They both had dangerous jobs, Lois knew that, and she accepted it. But this was different. Metas were different, and a gang war with professional meta-human assassins was a -lot- different. Even she knew better than to get mixed up in something like this... didn't she...?

Okay, so... maybe... maybe she didn't. She'd gone into plenty of dangerous situations too... and Renee had Aubrey and Tina and a the rest of the S.C.D. working with her. So maybe she needed to get this in perspective. So maybe she was overreacting. Maybe... maybe she just needed to calm down.

Renee... Renee was a blind spot for her, and she always had been. She didn't react to anything about her the way she reacted in other situations. Renee... kinda made her crazy sometimes. She just... did. So maybe... she wasn't thinking clearly right now.

That was always her trouble, right? When it came to Renee Montoya, she seemed perennially unable to think clearly about much of anything.

She wasn't an irrational person usually. She could be bull-headed and stubborn and didn't know when to quit a lot of the time, but usually she was very reasonable and level-headed, or at least she'd like to think that was true. She just couldn't be that way about Renee a lot of the time though. It bugged her more than she wanted to think about that it was true, but it was true.

They both had dangerous jobs, but usually... usually she didn't actually have to see it, or know what Renee was doing until after the fact. Ignorance was bliss, in other words. So, now, she wasn't ignorant, and now she had to deal with it.

She took a few more steadying breaths and went back out there to apologize to Dan and see if she could talk to Renee when she got here. She just... she needed to see her and touch her and, hopefully, just hold her for a while. That would make her feel better.

\--- J'ONN ---

John Jones got out of a cab and looked up at the sky a moment. His name was a deception, his face was too. In reality, he was J'onn J'onzz, survivor of a holocaust that happened on his home planet of Ma'aleca'andra (called Mars in English) some seventy-three years ago. He'd come to Earth a refugee, and used his shape-shifting ability, and ability all of his kind were born with, to blend in to the crowd, live his life, and grieve his great loss.

He had lead a long life, and known love and peace, as well as war and tragedy. None of that though, seemed to have prepared him for his dilemma today. Life, he had long ago found, had a way of doing that--of always finding new ways of catching you unawares again and again, no matter how long you lived or how much you thought you knew of the ways of things.

He turned around and stood there, not moving.

He was across the street from the coffee shop where he was supposed to meet Jim Corrigan for coffee. It was called 'Great Expectations'... the name of a well-known book and several film adaptations, he gathered, though he had not read or viewed any of them. Perhaps he would, at some point... if for no other reason that to find out if his... date... had chosen the spot for some reference to the story that had relevance to them, or if it was simply happenstance. From what he knew of Jim, he suspected the later, but could not be sure. Jim, like life, seemed to always have a surprise for him waiting around the next bend.

He'd arrived early, but Jim was already there, and J'onn had spent the last few minutes simply standing here watching him sit there and stew. It would be so easy to simply reach over there with his mind and find out what his friend was thinking. Besides a cursory scan when they'd first met though, he'd never done so before and was not about to do so now. He liked things the way they were with Jim. He didn't want to... complicate things--anymore than he already had, at any rate.

...Was he really going to do this, he asked himself?

It would be cruel to stand him up, he told himself. He had no intentions of doing that, but... on the other hand, it was not too late to simply tell Jim that his actions the other day had simply been... in the heat of the moment. He did not have to take it any further than that, he told himself. The trouble was... after so long alone, he knew... that was exactly what his heart wanted him to do.

And he knew too, that Jim Corrigan had managed to get under his skin a little... more, perhaps, than he was truly willing to admit, even to himself. He still recalled with vivid clarity that night in the rain when Jim had kissed him in that ally. It had been so unexpected, and he'd been caught so completely unprepared for it. He'd found himself thinking of it entirely too often since then, though... He hadn't planned to act on his feelings, of course, it had just been... He'd just gotten back from Belarus where he'd decimated an underground criminal empire that had dealt in human trafficking, drugs, and kidnapping for random in order to finance a revolt against the local government.

He'd had to admit, the local government was no shining example of morality itself, but, certainly, these rebels would have been far, far worse. It was not the first such sweeping action he'd taken since arriving on Earth all those years ago, but it still always affected him deeply to see such suffering and loss. True, he had done what he could to alleviate that state of affairs from the shadows, but... he sighed.

When he had returned to the city, looking forward to seeing his friend again, he'd asked after him at his precinct and found out that he was out on a case. A little digging had found that Jim had been doggedly trailing after a killer known as Victor Zsasz for most of the time he'd been away. J'onn had wasted little time in tracking Jim down, but, even still, he had very nearly arrived too late, and what he had seen when he arrived... somehow, it had shaken him even more than what he had seen in Belarus.

He'd wanted to kill the man who had threatened Jim's life, and he had had to work harder to stop himself from doing that than he had to stop himself from killing the criminals in Belarus... with them, he had simply dismantled their organization, blanked their minds, given them false memories and new imposed personalities that he'd based on a group of aide workers that had been nearby, and then relocated the perpetrators. The worst among them, the ones who were likely to re-offend even with mind modification, he'd put in prisons and blanked only parts of their memories to make them less dangerous.

His solutions were far from ideal, he knew, but he was only one being, and there was so much suffering on this world with not nearly enough effective or compassionate counter-measures in place in human society to deal with it all.

That was Belarus though. With Zsasz, he had acted with little if any compassion... he'd guided his bullet telekinetically to paralyze him, not kill. But he had been so tempted not to... so tempted to just end him for what he had tried to do. He hadn't altered the man's mind though. He'd wanted him to suffer in his helplessness for what he had done... wanted him to ask himself that same question he'd so cruelly asked Jim--to ask it again and again: had his life been worth it?

It was... disquieting, to have such thoughts... such feelings, for someone again...

He'd wanted to leave after what he had done... but Jim had asked him to stay, and he hadn't been able to tell him no. And then there had been that invitation to coffee, and Jim's typical self-recriminations that were somehow so endearing. And they'd been sitting there together, and J'onn had found himself saying yes... saying yes, and doing more than saying yes...

He didn't regret what he had done, but... he wasn't sure he was ready to deal with the consequences of it, either. Because he'd told the truth in that ally months ago: he was still in love with his wife, no matter that she was dead... He still thought about her more than he thought of anything else, more than he thought of Jim... Was it fair of him to pursue this, when he still felt that way?

No, he supposed it might not be... but he had seen the look in Jim's eyes in that ally, and he had seen the look in his eyes today. No matter what he chose in this, it would not be fair to him, that much was abundantly clear... but Jim had been so happy, and so relieved, when J'onn had told him yes and kissed him so. He had not needed his telepathy to tell that... and he wasn't at all sure he could bring himself to take those things away from his friend if it was in his power not too.

Jim Corrigan was not of his kind. He was human, and he would grow old and die one day, while J'onn himself would not. Martians had no end to their natural life span. If his life was not ended in violence, he would live on indefinitely, where Jim would be gone in but a handful of years... It was a daunting thing, that. But was it daunting enough to deny himself this chance... at finding someone...?

...They could also never make love as his people did. Jim's body mostly functioned autonomically and was comparatively fragile, it simply would not tolerate such a thing--was not capable of it. But, mind to mind, they could be together that way, and, physically, they could touch as humans did... though he had yet to experience that and knew little of what to expect... still, that, he thought, would be more than enough for him. Would Jim accept him though, if he knew his true nature? Was it worth the risk?

The minutes and seconds ticked down in his head. As a Martian, he had an innate and exacting sense of time, so he knew, to the second, how much more time he had before he had to make a choice. He counted it down in his mind, and, a reasonable amount of time before he reached zero, he found himself walking across the street.

What was he going to say? What was Jim going to say? What were they both going to chose? He found he had no idea, and that, in itself, was more exhilarating than anything he had felt since coming to this world...

Walking in the door, Jim's eyes tracked to his and Jim smiled a hesitant sort of smile. He was nervous about this, J'onn could tell.

J'onn returned the smile, placed his order at the counter, then walked over to him. Jim stood to greet him.

"Hey, John. You made it." Jim spoke.

"Did you think I wouldn't?" J'onn asked, a little curious.

"No, I... I guess that's not you, is it?" Jim admitted, taking his seat again.

"No, it is not." J'onn agreed mildly, sitting down as Jim did.

Jim met his gaze, but seemed at a loss for something else to say. "How have you been, while I've been away?" J'onn ventured, hoping to break the tension he was sure they both felt.

"Besides the part you came in on, you mean?" Jim asked.

"...Besides that, yes." J'onn replied.

"...Things have been fine, I guess. Just, you know, the job. Zsasz, he started up two days after you left. Random kills, no pattern I could find. Slippery piece of trash too... I went at him like no one's business, but I couldn't get close, not, well, not until yesterday." Jim confessed.

"You went in without backup." J'onn answered, concerned.

"Yeah, I know--jerk move, wasn't it? Just, well... was starting to feel a little the boy who cried wolf, you know?" Jim put forward, sounding a bit shaky.

"Cried wolf?" J'onn asked, brushing Jim's surface thoughts just barely enough to understand his reference. "Oh, the children's story, yes, forgive me... I do remember hearing it once. Still, you... should not risk yourself that way unnecessarily."

"...The way you talk, it's always so formal... funny thing is, it never really sounds that way to me. Funny how you do that. It's... it's nice though, you know? I uh... sorry. How'd you learn English anyway? You never said." Jim asked, clearly trying to avoid the previous subject, but also clearly interested in knowing the answer to his question. J'onn decided to simply give him his way on both counts.

"...His name is Avery Thomas, my step-father. An Estonian by birth, though I gather he was something of a man about the world... as I have become, I suppose, to a lesser extent." The history he'd established for 'John Jones' had him immigrating to the states from his home country of Lithuania, from the city of Klaipeda by the sea, at sixteen years of age with his single father who had died years later of an illness. 

He had created a nigh-unassailable paper trail for this, and had found an unassuming Lithuanian man named, Titus Jonikaitis, who had immigrated and died at the right times and planted memories of himself in the minds of his friends and family. Avery Thomas was a real person as well, one of those in whom he'd planted memories of himself. Titus and Avery had had a daughter together that they'd adopted. She had died of an illness before Titus's death. Avery and Titus had immigrated to the states, Avery taking a job offer there from a family friend. Avery had gone abroad again after Titus had died though. J'onn actually talked with Avery on the telephone quite often... When J'onn had found him, he had been... very lonely and very sad, having no family left alive that he was on good terms with. Having a son, it had helped him a great deal, J'onn had found... and J'onn had to admit that he had come to look forward to his conversations with Avery quite a lot as well, and found them... rewarding... even comforting.

"He's still among the living then? Are you close?" Jim asked.

"We talk on the phone every week or so, as time allows. He's... said he will be coming for a visit at some point." John smiled a little at that. "He's met a man, apparently... things seem to be going well between them, the last I have heard..."

Jim shook his head. "Imagine that..." He smiled a little.

"You seem... surprised. Why?" J'onn asked with some curiosity.

"Yeah, sorry... Just, you know... you don't usually open up like this. You've never really told me much, you know. About your past, your family, that kind of thing..." Jim trailed off.

J'onn smiled a little, bemused. "It is the sort of thing one is expected to do, is it not? When one is on a date?"

"Uh, yeah... yeah, guess it is at that." Jim replied.

"Tell me about your family then?" J'onn asked. "...Do you have any siblings? Are you close with your parents?" They had talked many times, but, it had just occurred to him, that was a subject that Jim had never brought up about himself either.

"Yeah, uh, yeah... got a sister, Jane. She's the assistant manager at a restaurant out by the bay. You know, in the touristy part of town? The Bayside Grill. We get along okay, even if she kind of is a pain in the ass sometimes." Jim told him ruefully, but with fondness in his voice.

J'onn almost laughed at that. "A 'pain in the ass', huh? Are you positive you don't have that backwards?" He noticed the conspicuous lack of Jim having anything to say about his parents, and decided, unless Jim brought it up himself, that was probably a topic best left for another time.

"Nah, you know me. I'm a saint." Jim smiled, and the look in his eyes... did make something inside J'onn flutter in some way.

"You are a very good man, yes... One of the best I have ever met, and that I don't think I would ever come to doubt." J'onn told him with all sincerity.

"Nah... I just do my job, same as you." Jim replied, looking bothered.

"...You speak as if you don't have a choice in that..." J'onn told him with some sort of sadness in his voice.

"Well, uh... why did that sound like a loaded thing you just said?" Jim asked, zeroing in on something he'd caught in J'onn's voice apparently.

J'onn sighed. "I suppose... because my trip was.. not a very pleasant one."

"...Care to explain that?" Jim asked meaningfully.

"Not especially, but, I will none the less, if that's what you'd like." J'onn replied

"...I think you'd better." Jim replied.

"...I..." J'onn paused and considered his words. "As I said, there are always choices in life. All too many of us do not make nearly so good or so noble choices as you do every day. As you have seen with Victor Zsasz, and no doubt many others, so I have seen all too many times before in my life as well. While visiting family... I became... caught up in matters having to do with a local so-called resistance movement."

"And why are they 'so-called'?" Jim asked, in all seriousness.

"The government of Belarus, like any of the world's governments to one extent or another, is not without it's flaws. Many of those flaws are, certainly, quite serious. So don't mistake me, there is more than reasonable justification for wanting that to change. This 'resistance' though, had much more in common with a criminal organization--it's crimes much worse than that of the government it opposed. Human trafficking, murder, assassination, intimidation, kidnapping, drug smuggling, the list is extensive. A distant cousin of mine, she became one of their victims... It took... much effort on my part to see her free of that. In the process, I was given many stark reminders of to what depths a person's choices can take them. I suppose it has left me with a sharper appreciation for those who's choices are... beautiful." J'onn confessed, meeting his date's eyes meaningfully. "As yours always are."

Jim swallowed and leaned his chin on his hand, looking away. "John..." He looked out the window of the coffee shop. "Thanks..." He finally spoke, turning back to meet J'onn's eyes. "I'm damn sorry you had to go through something like that. I had no idea... but, yeah... thanks. I uh, you know, you really don't mess around, do you?"

"As a rule, no." J'onn admitted, knowing what Jim was referring to was indeed not in his character. Humans in general tended to equivocate and use humor or banality to build comfort levels when trust was lacking--he had noticed this. It was not something he particularly cared to adapt himself to.

Jim smiled and sighed. A waiter came over and delivered J'onn's coffee and pastry. "Sorry it took so long." The waiter apologized.

"You needn't worry over it." J'onn replied. "Thank you."

"Sure. Anything else I can get you guys?" He asked.

"Blueberry bran muffin." Jim put forward.

"Great, be right back with that for you, sir." The waiter replied and left.

(2b continued)


	10. The Biscotti Issue

#10: THE BISCOTTI ISSUE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"...It's a real thing for you, isn't it?" Jim asked after a beat.

"What is?" J'onn asked back absently, taking a sip of coffee and pondering the complementary biscotti his order came with and wondering if he wanted to eat it. His people didn't actually need food or drink, they could absorb the necessary nutrients through direct skin absorption. As long as he was in a planetary atmosphere, he would never be lacking. Taste was a relatively new sensory experience for him, one he'd discovered only since immigrating to Earth. He found he enjoyed some varieties of chocolates, but was less certain about whether he liked the taste of cinnamon very much, and there was cinnamon in the chocolate topped biscotti. Maybe he would offer it to Jim instead? Perhaps in trade for a part of the muffin he had just ordered? Sharing food was a means to promote intimacy in human society, as he understood it. But would that be too forward at this stage?

"You know, our date. This." Jim put forward. "You seem like... like you're really in this, you know...? I, uh... I wasn't sure you would be." Jim told him.

"I would not have accepted if that were not the case..." J'onn replied, bothered that what he had just said was not actually completely the truth. "It's true... I am... not over my wife, still. Honestly... I still feel, and not to any trivial degree, as though I am still married to her... as though I will see her again any day, even though I know that can never be so..."

"...How long ago did she die?" Jim asked delicately.

"Several years." J'onn replied vaguely. "I have... been withdrawn since it happened. You may have noticed this about me..."

"How'bout let's just call it charmingly mysterious." Jim replied.

"Appreciated." J'onn replied, unable to help a small, charmed sort of smile at the corner of his lips. "The point is though, that I... do know that I have to move on. That I have to truly live my life again, hopefully in the best sense of what that means... or, I suppose that isn't strictly true that I must do that, but lately... with you... I've found myself wanting to, more and more... I have grieved for a long time, so now, perhaps, it is time to begin to leave that behind. I am hopeful... that, given time, if things do progress between us, that my feelings towards you will begin to overshadow the echoes of that loss more every day. It is... not what others would be able to offer you, I know, but, it is what I have... who I am..."

Jim smiled a little sadly. "Yeah, well, ain't neither of us without ghosts. Remind me to tell you about my last serious relationship sometime..."

"...I will." J'onn replied, knowing better than to ask after the mater right now.

The waiter came back and dropped off Jim's muffin, apparently knowing better than to say something and interrupt.

"Point is... we might have more in common that way than you might think... It ain't the same, but you, uh, you know... you've kinda gotten under my skin lately, John... I can't shake it, and I've been miserable for it, thinking you'd, you know, never feel the same way. I'm... what you got, who you are...? You speak to me, you know? In the way something speaks without saying anything at all, that's how..." Jim trailed off. "So I want to give it a try with you--I want it more than I've wanted anything in a long time, I think. So I'm in, you know... if you are, I am." He finished quietly, looking him in the eyes again.

"...Then we are in agreement." J'onn replied after a beat, reaching across the table to touch his date's hand a little.

Jim smiled. "Guess we are at that." He took a drink of his coffee as if his throat were dry or he needed something to distract him just a little. "Hey... can I ask something?" Jim asked.

"Anything you wish." J'onn replied easily.

"Am I... your wife, I... I guess, am I the first guy you've ever... you know, dated?" Jim asked a little hesitantly.

"Actually, no." J'onn replied, a little surprised by the question. "When... I was younger, Mariah, whom I would later marry, and I... we were simply friends. She dated men, and so did I." He confessed, not having thought about that time in this manner in quite a long time.

"Huh. So what happened?" Jim asked, curiously.

"Only what so often does between friends--as, I'm sure you would agree, our current situation would attest. Friendship became something more... I realized that, without realizing it, I had fallen in love. I hadn't known what to do about it, how much I was willing to risk, until she became serious with one of the men she was dating. At that point, I felt I had no other choice but to risk all and confess my feelings for her. She reciprocated, and, after a reasonable courtship period, we were wed. My life with her was... I have no words. I loved her with everything I had, and everything I was..." He told in a soft voice.

"...Ever have any fights?" Jim asked, sounding a little vulnerable.

"...Only once..." J'onn replied.

"...Is that... something you'd want to share?" Jim asked with sensitivity.

J'onn sighed. "You'll recall, I've told you before that I have gone to war?" He asked. Jim nodded. "I... in war, I had to do... terrible things. Things I would wish the burden of on no other living soul. And so, I did not wish them on her most of all. She..." He smiled. "She would have none of that, of course, and so we quarreled for a time. I could not tolerate it for long, of course, and, I could tell, it was causing her suffering as well... the rift that came of that, and so I relented and opened myself to her."

"...Did you regret that?" Jim asked.

"...I was saddened by the necessity of it, but no... While it was unmistakably true that I did not want her to have to carry the burden of what I had done, despite the fact that I knew well that she was of strong enough character to bear it, there was also a less noble second reason, and that was... that I was ashamed. I had... not wanted her to know what war had made of me. Call it vanity, or pride... it was foolish, none the less..." J'onn admitted, shaking his head. "Can we...? I would prefer to talk of other things."

"Yeah... right, of course... sorry, I shouldn't have asked." Jim told him.

"No, you should have. It's one of the things I have always found compelling about you: that you are not one to shy away. I was that way once, but I have not been that person for longer than I would care to think of. Talking with you, I feel that part of myself alive again within me, and I am glad for it." J'onn told him.

Jim opened his mouth as if to say something, but stopped himself and shook his head. "The things you do to my head sometimes..." He spoke. "You turn me 'round, John, every time. I never see you coming."

J'onn smiled, bemused. "Likewise, exactly."

"Huh. Wouldn't know it. You never let on..." He smiled back, drinking some coffee.

"As I said, I... have been perhaps too withdrawn." J'onn told him.

"You don't seem that way now." Jim replied.

"Again, as I said, we are on a date... it's expected." J'onn answered.

"Yeah... hey, um, when we're done here... you want to go for a walk? Talk some more? Or, you know, even just not talk, if you want...?" Jim asked hopefully.

J'onn smiled. "I would enjoy that." He drank some coffee and ate a little of his pastry and absently pondered his fondness for the peach marmalade it contained. Concurrently, he was also reevaluating the biscotti issue. Things seemed to be going well between them--perhaps it would be appropriate to offer the trade after all? It bothered him that he was so unsure on such a simple matter, and he resolved to look into the particulars of human courtship much more thoroughly in the very near future so that he would have more stable ground to stand on for their next date... assuming, of course, that there would be one.

"...Good." Jim smiled back, drinking some coffee and eating some of his muffin. "So, uh, hey, you hear about what went down with Clayface at the Athens building earlier?" He questioned, sounding serious in a way that had J'onn thinking something might be wrong.

"I got the news alert on my phone on the way over, yes. I only read the headline and a brief summery through. It sounded as though the S.C.D. had it handled." J'onn ventured.

"Allen and Montoya from major crimes were the ones that caught the thing in the first place, actually. S.C.D. only got there for the fireworks at the end." Jim started, taking another sip of coffee while J'onn snacked on he pastry "...word is, Cris Allen's at Starr Labs being treated... Clayface used some kind of tech on him that let him, I don't know, tap into his thoughts or memories or something, so he could put on a better act pretending to be him."

"I... am sorry to hear that. I've worked with detectives Allen and Montoya on a case once. My impression of them was that they were very good police. Very dedicated and very skilled." J'onn answered.

"Got that right..." Jim replied quietly. "Don't know Montoya too well, you know. She keeps to herself, mostly, from what I hear. Cris though--I know him, you know? Not... not that well, I guess. Just, ya know, we'd go for drinks in the same crowd sometimes. Met his wife and kid once, at a party at Marc's place. Good people. Bright kid. Wants to be a cop one day, like his old man."

"...It was an assassination attempt, right? Against Celia Kazantkakis?" J'onn ventured sympathetically.

"Yeah, right. Apparently Clayface, alias for a guy named Basil Karlo... guy used to be some kinda actor apparently. Anyway, he'd tried before, earlier that day, at Kazantkakis's house. But, well, you know about the lady, right? What everybody knows but can't prove?" Jim asked.

"The Network, yes. They allege that she's Athena, it's leader..." J'onn replied a little absently, his mind working. He had never looked into The Network very deeply himself. Despite her ruthless methods, Athena's agenda seemed relatively benign from all that he'd gathered--certainly when compared to other concerns, such as the organization, he knew, she had been in conflict with recently: Intergang. They, he had become convinced, were a very real and very dire threat indeed. One he fully planned on investigating further in the near future. "Was Basil Karlo in the employ of Intergang then, do they know?"

"...That's the working theory, yeah... What do you know about it?" Jim asked a little guardedly. Was that concern for his safety J'onn was picking up on? He couldn't tell for sure without looking into his mind...

"Only what I've heard incidentally." J'onn lied blatantly. "Going back months, I've heard vague rumors about a conflict between the two organizations. Though, as you're probably already aware, information about Intergang is even more scarce and rumor-laden than it is about The Network. You needn't worry. I haven't been poking around that particular hornet's nest in my spare time, if that's what you're thinking. I'm not delusional enough to think someone like me stands any real chance of keeping his life in such arenas."

Jim let out a sigh of relief. "Well, that's good to hear. At least, between us, one of us has a cool head and good sense."

"Of that, I think, I had already been aware." J'onn replied.

Jim smiled and shook his head. "Yeah, thought you might'a been." He admitted. "But yeah, Intergang: that's what it looks like. Dark stuff with those people lately... Some of the stuff you hear, you know? Some people are even say'n they're, I don'know, like a cult now or something... Human sacrifices, the whole nine yards... As if Cobra wasn't enough, ya'know?" He paused. "Anyway, Clayface is still out there. They don't know yet if Kazantaks made it out or not. Rumors say she's got a teleport meta working for her though, so I wouldn't be surprised if she's holed up someplace deep underground without windows right about now..." He trailed off.

"Perhaps so..." J'onn replied absently.

"They've got an all points out for Clayface of course, not that it's likely to do much good with this one. Hell, I could be him right now and you wouldn't even know it, right? The real me passed out in some closet somewhere getting my head sucked..." Jim shivered a little.

"It is disquieting, I agree." J'onn admitted. Though his reasons for agreeing would, no doubt, disquiet his date quite a bit more than he already was.

Jim sighed. "Yeah, that's one word for it anyway..." He smiled a little. "Sorry."

"Unnecessary." J'onn replied, touching his hand again.

Jim laughed. "We keep talking so much, coffee's gonna get cold."

"Very well." J'onn replied with a touch of humor, taking a sip of coffee.

Jim laughed and ate some of his muffin, dipping the piece in his coffee first.

J'onn snacked on his pastry, and eyed his biscotti. "I'll trade you my biscotti for part of your muffin?" He offered.

"...Yeah, okay." Jim agreed easily, separating a bigger piece of his muffin that J'onn thought he would and giving it to him. J'onn took it, handed over the biscotti, then considered his pastry, and took of park of it, making sure it contained some of the peach marmalade, and give it to Jim too.

Jim took it silently and smiled. "Thanks."

J'onn smiled back, pleased that the exchange had been successful and appreciated. "I got mugged you know, while you were gone." Jim put forward.

J'onn looked up in surprise. "What happened?"

Jim laughed. "What, you kidding? It was like Christmas came early." He told. "Tossed the guy my wallet, grabbed his gun when his eyes followed it, knocked his lights out... best part was the look on his face when he came too while I was cuffing him. I took a picture, showed it around the station. Wanna see?"

"I do." J'onn answered.

Jim took out his cell phone, cued up the photograph, and handed the phone to J'onn.

J'onn looked at it and smiled, shaking his head.

"Hey, I was off duty, it was a citizen's arrest. I'm allowed to take a damn photo." Jim spoke up.

"Yes, you most certainly are." J'onn replied fondly. "May I say, I think you may have a future as a crime scene photographer too? Clean angle, no blur, you captured this unlucky soul's plight with an expert eye, I'd say. Quite admirable, really."

Jim laughed. "Yeah, admirable. That's me alright. Jim Corrigan: Mr. Admirable."

J'onn didn't reply, he just took another sip of coffee and appraised his date thoughtfully. "You... I..." J'onn sighed. "I'm very glad you asked me out today." He admitted.

Jim looked... a little like the mugger in the photo really, except much more endearing. "I um, yeah..." He smiled. "Yeah, I am too."

"I uh.... Anything else interesting happen while I was away?" J'onn asked.

"Uh, sure..." Jim pondered that, dipping the biscotti in his coffee and taking a bite. "Well, uh, Josie's seeing someone new I guess. Not news exactly, but Romy hates her."

"What do you think?" J'onn asked curiously.

"Well... you know, I wanna root for her. But, uh, you know Josie. Worst luck in love I ever saw. And me sayin' that with my track record? That's really sayin' something, ya'know?" Jim related sympathetically.

"Mm. It is rather unlikely, isn't it?" J'onn had to agree.

"Yeah, lets see, what all has it been? The arsonist, the embezzler, the two married women who forgot to mention they were married, the woman who was after her for a green card, the woman who got mad at her for why Josie still won't say and took a baseball bat to her car... am I missing anyone?" Jim asked.

"The identity thief and the one who was on the rebound and went back to her husband." J'onn replied.

"Right, and those are just the ones we know about. She's mum on her dating life prior to joining the force." Jim sighed. "It's like she saves all her luck for solving cases, just ain't any left over where it counts, ya know?"

J'onn sighed. "Perhaps I should offer her my services. I usually don't take on domestic work, but she is a friend." J'onn considered.

"What, you mean, look into the women she sees? Run background checks?" Jim asked.

J'onn shrugged.

"Eh, couldn't hurt I guess. She'd never agree to it though. Too stubborn." Jim pointed out. "I don't know how many times Romy's tried to set her up, Josie just won't do it. It's heartbreaking, you know? Every time, right? Every time she's convinced the woman she's with is an angel and she won't hear otherwise until it's too late."

"...I suppose then, when she's finally successful, she will make someone very happy." J'onn put forward. "It's not a bad thing to be able to see the best in people, even while doing the sort of work that we do."

"Yeah. Yeah, there is that." Jim admitted. "Like I said though: I'm rooting for her."

"As am I." J'onn agreed. Jose was one of Jim's circle of friends. That circle consisted of Gwen Sterling (his roommate), Detective Marcus Driver, Detective Romy Chandler, Detective Josie MacDonald, Lia Briggs (Gwen's friend), Detective Jack Forbes, Detective Nick Gage, Detective Charlie Fields, and Charlie's wife, Nora Fields who worked in the coroner's office. Nora and Charlie were going through a trial separation though. Marcus and Romy were married too, and Jack and Nick were dating and had moved in together. Jack was one of the detectives from internal affairs that had investigated Jim some time ago. They'd become unlikely friends, and Jim said he liked having Jack around to remind him to stay on the straight and narrow while doing his job. When J'onn had become Jim's friend, he'd somehow also been adopted into his group of friends as well. J'onn had come to know a good deal about all of them, and, for the most part, he'd come to consider them all his own friends as well... with the possible exception of Jack, who seemed to be perpetually suspicious of him somehow, though he rarely let on about it.

They ate and drank a little more, Jim finishing off the last of his coffee and muffin, though still having half the biscotti left, as well as half the piece of pastry--the part that had the peach marmalade on it. Did he not like peace marmalade, or was he saving it for last? J'onn wondered...

"...I've been meaning to ask: Have you heard anything new about Marc's son, Travis?" J'onn asked, changing the subject. He was getting low on coffee too. Only one or two more sips left.

"Yeah... Yeah, casts're off and he's out of jail for now. Probation, and Marc still gets damned angry about it all sometimes. Romy's got to where she just clams up and goes icy when you bring it up... but yeah, kid's doing okay." Jim explained. Travis was Marcus's son from a previous marriage, and J'onn had been saddened to hear what had happened to him months ago. He'd apparently fallen in with a group of his peers who sought adrenaline highs. It was a growing trend among the country's youth apparently. One of the more widely condemned permeations of this was what was called a 'bull run', where a group of youths, usually twenty or more, would run into city traffic. Sometimes it merely caused a disruption and no one was seriously hurt, but, as one would well imagine... other times, that was very much not the case. The phenomenon had caused deaths in the thousands to date, country-wide. The incident Marc's son had been a part of was a bad one--it had killed five, injuring many more, and caused significant property damage as well. 

The practice had, obviously, been made expressly illegal quickly after the first incidents had occurred. A conviction of the crime earned a jail sentence and mandatory counseling. What the councilor thought, whether there were any prior offenses, and what damage was done all went in to determining the severity of the punishment. Travis had been lucky to have a father on the force who could get him released early with a promise to the courts of personal reasonability on Marc's part, and continued court-mandated counseling sessions. According to Marc, Travis had really only done it to impress a boy he liked. That, certainly, J'onn could understand to a degree... despite that it was obviously a very foolish thing to have done.

J'onn was reminded of one of his own children, one he and his wife had had several hundred years ago who had subsequently died in war. A'rinn had been his name... and he had been reckless. So addictively joyous as well, but incurably reckless... J'onn did not think of him often anymore, for it still hurt him to do so, but he'd thought of him more and more lately, with Travis Driver a recurring reminder. Travis had that same kind of joy in his eyes, and so he felt for Marcus and hoped a better fate for him and his son than the one he himself had suffered through.

J'onn shook his head. "I should go visit them soon." He spoke.

"Yeah, I'm sure they'd like that. Kid seems to look up to you, right?" Jim ventured.

"Does he?" J'onn asked, a little surprised. If it was true, he hadn't noticed it.

"Well, Marc says he does anyway. Thinks you're handsome too, apparently." Jim smirked.

J'onn dropped his head into his hand and ran his other hand through his hair. "Great." He spoke.

Jim laughed.

"Yeah, yeah..." J'onn shook it off and smiled a little, drinking the last of his coffee. "I uh, how about that walk?" He asked.

"...Yeah. Sure, that sounds good." Jim replied, smiling very sincerely, popping the piece of pasty with the peach marmalade into his mouth as he got up.

J'onn did likewise, for he'd had a piece of it left too, and stood as well, scanning his phone over the reader on the table to take care of his part of the bill. 

"Oh, right." Jim remarked distractedly, scanning his phone on the table too.

They walked through the crowd together, out onto the street to have their walk.

(2b continued)


	11. Ebbs And Flows

#11: EBBS AND FLOWS

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

\--- RENEE ---

She was being carried in Aubrey's arms again, and they were coming in for a landing. When they touched down, Aubrey let her down onto the sidewalk gently, and as soon as she was on her feet, Tina was there lifting a giggling Aubrey up off the ground, twirling her around, kissing her, and telling her she'd missed her. Renee was smiling at the display, despite everything that had happened.

She didn't expect it, but when she turned around... Lois was there, looking into her eyes. Renee felt like her heart skipped a beat. Lois smiled to her and walked over and it was her turn to be kissed.

"...woman could get used to that." Renee told her fondly when the kiss broke.

Their eyes met again. "I... I know you won't do it because I'm asking you to, but... I'm asking anyway: don't work this case, please?"

Renee blinked a couple times, her eyes narrowing. "You're right, the answer's no." She told her.

"Yeah... I thought so. Had to ask though... just... just be careful, okay? For me?" Lois asked hopefully.

Renee's mood softened and she brought her hands to Lois's hips, smiling. "I promise, okay?" She told her.

"Okay." Lois agreed simply.

Renee moved forward and kissed her again. "I've... I've got a wedding where I'm one of the guests of honor coming up at some point soon, right? I'm not going to mess that up for us by getting shot or something."

"...Right." Lois told her. "I'll... um, I'll just let you get to work then." She told her, touching her hair and looking into her eyes like this was messing with her head a lot. Renee could relate. It was kind of messing with her own head right about now too.

"Okay." Renee replied.

Lois smiled again, turned, and walked away over towards Heather and Miko.

Renee's eyes followed her fiance for a few moments, then she turned to go, saw Dan, Aubrey, Tina, and, hey, Lupe was here now too. She went over to talk with them and see if there were any leads.

\--- J'ONN ---

They'd been walking for a good long while now. Conversation had ebbed and flowed. For the last couple blocks, it been in an ebbed state. They were down by the water, not all that far from the building where Jim lived. Jim walked over to the edge of the boardwalk, braced his hands on the railing, and looked out over the water at the shoreline on the other side (yet more of the city). J'onn went over and leaned on the railing beside him, looking at him instead of the view, pondering what Jim might be thinking at a time like this but not asking.

"You know, today..." Jim finally spoke, standing up straight and turning to meet J'onn's regard. "Today's been a really good day... Best I've had in a long while, in fact." He confessed.

J'onn smiled a little bemusedly. "For me, too." He admitted simply.

Jim's eyes grew more expressive and J'onn somehow knew his intent, meeting him half way for their third kiss... This time, unlike the first two occurrences, both of them had fully understood that it was going to happen before it had. J'onn found his eyelids drifting closed as their bodies moved closer. It was an entirely enjoyable thing... and he found himself having to purposefully resist the temptation to deepen things on a mental level as well, as he would naturally be doing if Jim were one of his own kind. Despite this small tension in him though, J'onn found himself very much enjoying the simple touch... perhaps even more than he might have guessed he would, in fact.

The kiss was long and unhurried and... very pleasantly thorough... but, of course, it did end at some point. Twelve minutes and thirty-eight seconds later in total, actually... Even with such thoroughly enthralling distractions, he couldn't help but know that, his kind always did.

"...Is it too soon to ask you up to my place for the night?" Jim asked.

J'onn closed his eyes. "It's not..." He admitted. "But, I think... it is too soon for me to accept." He told him honestly. "I'm sorry..."

"Nah." Jim replied with an easy smile. "Don't apologize. Believe me, I get it." He touched J'onn's face with his hand gently. "Just... call me when you want to get together again, okay? You've got my number." He told him, moving in for another brief but telling kiss that left J'onn a little at a loss for words.

They looked into one another's eyes a long moment, and then Jim turned and walked away. "Until then, I guess."

"...Until then." J'onn replied to his back rather perfunctorily.

He watched Jim walk away. The man didn't look back, and J'onn was a little disappointed that he didn't. He sighed, turned, and walked away too. As he walked, his mind going over many things. His phone chimed and he looked down at the number, answering it automatically when he saw who it was. "Lois, hello." He greeted his friend.

"J'onn, hi." Lois Lane answered back. "Hey, have you, uh, have you heard about what happened in Hypersector today?"

"I have. Renee's partner, Crispus... I was sorry to hear--"

"Yeah, I think Renee's going after him--after Clayface. I need your help." She told him, sounding understandably anxious about the whole thing.

"Of course. The news reported that Clayface died, I take it that wasn't accurate?" J'onn asked, turning down a deserted alleyway and becoming invisible as he did.

"Yeah, I... I'm worried about her, you know?" Lois spoke, sounding vulnerable, where Lois was not the type of person to sound that way usually.

"I know..." He replied. "I'm on my way."

\--- CAMILLA ---

She didn't get tired like regular people--she wasn't even really sure what it actually felt like to be tired in the first place in fact... but, right now? Right now, she imagined she did feel tired--mentally tiered at least, maybe.

She walked into the room and saw her mother there, Terence and Justin were there too. She sighed. She'd never really liked Justin Quinn very much... it always felt to her like he was keeping secrets--secrets he shouldn't be keeping. He -was- a paid assassin though, so she supposed that maybe that was all it was. Still, he made her nervous. He'd never actually -done- anything that gave her any rational reason to think he was disloyal, but she still couldn't ever bring herself to trust him. Mom did though, so that was that. At least until he gave her one of those rational reasons... then--then that could be a different story all together. Terry though--him, she liked. Him, she'd trust with her life without a second thought.

"Hey mom." Camilla greeted her foster mom. "Hey Terry, Justin." She acknowledged the other two. She hugged Terry first, then her mom. Not Quinn though, obviously.

"Hey, Cami." Terry greeted.

"Daughter. You made me proud today." Celia told her, meeting her daughter's eyes as she held her hands in hers.

Camilla smiled. "Thanks mom. I'm just sorry I couldn't end this for us." She sighed again.

"You did all that I could have asked of you. Don't fault yourself." Her mom told her, offering her a seat.

Camilla sat down and sighed for a third time, her mom taking a seat too. Terry and Justin stayed standing.

"Any word on Markham and Mallory?" Camilla asked hopefully. She'd been caught up answering the S.C.D.'s questions. She'd seen Mallory being taken away in an ambulance, but she hadn't seen Markham anywhere. Last she'd seen, he'd taken a hit, but she hadn't been able to tell how bad it had been.

"They're fine, don't worry." Terry told her. "I got Markham out after he went down, Dr. Keating has him on bed rest now... He'll be limping for a month probably, but it's nothing permanent or life-threatening... as for Mall, you know the way she heals--she'll be in fighting form again before the day is out. There might be some delays getting her back from the S.C.D. though, we'll have to wait and see on that. One of our lawyers is heading over there now, just to be safe."

"That's a relief." Camilla replied, thinking about... well, mostly Mallory. They'd... been close once. Not anymore, but they were still friends and... Camilla had never seemed to shake the habit of caring about her. They weren't together anymore, but, in that way, it still felt the same as when they were to her mostly. She tried to hide it, but... it was there. She couldn't shake it and she didn't want to, really. Even though she had a new girlfriend now, and even though Mall had moved on too...

Her mom regarded her perceptively, as though she wanted to say something. She didn't though. But Camilla could guess what the look was about. She didn't trust Kym, didn't think they were a good match. She still thought she'd made a mistake letting things end between her and Mallory. Maybe she was even right, for all Camilla knew... at any rate, it bothered her more than she wanted to admit to anyone that her mom thought that. She didn't see it herself--why her mom didn't like Kym the way she did. Kym was sweet and nice and Camilla trusted her, was in love with her... she couldn't see any reason not to like her.

She wanted to just put it down to the fact that she considered Mallory as close to family too and that was all it was. Somehow though... she just couldn't convince herself that's all it was.

"So, what's our next move then?" She asked it as an open question. "How do we find this guy before he does this again?"

Her mom smiled at that. "Yes, about that. Our... benefactor contacted me. Help will be here soon."

The shadows in the room started to move then, and it startled Camilla to her feet. "What in the hell..." She trailed off, watching as the shadows gathered.

"Peace, daughter. They are expected." Her mom told her.

Camilla did as asked and relaxed her posture... partly. As she watched, two women stepped out of the shadows and stood before them, the shadows receding in their wake.

"Allow me to introduce Eve Eden and her wife June Moone, better known in some circles and Nightshade and The Enchantress." Her mother spoke.

June smiled and it sent a chill through Camilla, all the way to her toes.

"It's nice to meet you, all." Eve greeted the room. "Shall we get to work?"

She, at least, seemed like a normal person, Camilla was glad to note.

(2b continued)


End file.
